


wherever there's a home, your heart is always there

by emmel23



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Endgame, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Enemies to Friends to Lovers, I am Supercorp Trash, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Light Angst, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, SuperCorp, Supercorp endgame, Supercorp slow burn, build-up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 57,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25449574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmel23/pseuds/emmel23
Summary: Title was previously "Home is Together", new title is from "home is where the heart is" by William Worthless.Kara had to make a tough decision when she almost lost her best friend. In Lena’s perspective, she struggles with the shocking, or not so shocking, news. Knowing her history of betrayals and pain, there is no telling what she could do. Can Kara make Lena and herself realize home is where the two of them are?It’s the entire relationship between our favs, from friendship to rocky roads to romance. Endgame is 100% guaranteed.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Kara Danvers & Team Supergirl, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor/Supergirl, Lena Luthor & Team Supergirl, Lena Luthor/Supergirl
Comments: 26
Kudos: 257





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title was previously "Home is Together", new title is from "home is where the heart is" by William Worthless.

Lena stepped into her big office, releasing a breath she had been holding. She had been having more and more meetings in the past couple of months. More and more investors began to put their faith in her and she was thankful that people were starting to see her as more than just a Luthor, but she missed having two evenings off in a row.

As she sat down in her chair, she heard a sound outside her window. She swiveled, turning to her balcony. Seeing Supergirl, she slowly stood up, straightening her tight black skirt and fiddled with her collar.

Kara smiled as she saw Lena’s face soften at the sight of her. Kara felt her heart pound against her ribcage, loud enough for her to hear even without her super hearing, when she remembered why she was here. Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers had been friends for almost two years at this point, yet Kara still hasn't told Lena that she is Supergirl. After Lena got into trouble a couple of days ago at the hands of angry, corrupt politicians that hate any Luthor they see, Kara decided it was time to tell Lena. 

When they captured Lena, they made their motive clear. Kill her. They believed Lena was capable of what her brother, Lex, could do. She wasn’t a maniacal murderer like her brother, but many people of National City were still wary around her. Lena was used to this since she had spent countless times tied up and gagged by her family’s enemies. Supergirl was busy on another mission and had no clue her best friend had been kidnapped. By the time the DEO got the news, thanks to Brainy, Kara had rushed off to save her.

When she got to the basement of the house located on the coordinates Brainy found, Lena had stopped breathing. 

Kara realized she didn’t want to lose her best friend, and she especially didn’t want to lose Lena when she still didn’t know one of her biggest secrets. She couldn’t live with herself if Lena died before really knowing her best friend. She had already come to this decision before Lena recovered fully. Her mind was immediately made up when she saw Lena hanging on to her life.

Lena hadn’t been as hurt in the other times she had been kidnapped. She was always tortured, but never to this extent. When Kara got there and saw Lena unconscious and not breathing, she panicked. Lena’s clothing was covered in blood. She calmed herself, telling her that Lena needed her, and did a quick scan of her body, trying to see how serious her injuries were, and Kara felt her throat close up. It was definitely serious. Lena’s ribs were broken, puncturing her skin. She seemingly had a concussion and had bruises and cuts all over her face, most likely from being punched over and over. Her left eye was swollen and her mouth was covered in dried blood. Her stomach was bleeding internally after being kicked repeatedly by the men who captured her. 

Kara panicked again and froze when she suddenly didn’t know what to do. 

“Supergirl?” Alex’s voice came through the coms. “What’s going on over there?”

Kara snapped out of it but didn’t reply. Her super hearing was activated and she was relieved when she heard a very faint heartbeat. She carefully maneuvered Lena into her arms and flew straight to the DEO.

“We need medical,” Kara said, her brows furrowed. “It’s very serious this time. She’s not breathing but she’s alive.”

Alex immediately sprang into action after seeing the state Lena was in, calling for the best DEO doctors and nurses, but not before noticing her sister’s voice breaking slightly.

Alex helped prep Lena for surgery, having some experience in the medical field before she was recruited by the DEO. She made sure she was secured in the OR before she went to find her sister.

“I didn’t even catch the assholes who did this,” Kara said, tears falling down her face. “I just needed to get her here.”

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll get them next time.” Alex reassured her, rubbing her back slowly.

“I’m so scared, Alex.” Kara glanced up at her older sister. “I got there so late because of the other mission a-and she wasn’t even breathing.”

Alex didn’t answer, knowing whatever she would say wouldn’t help. Instead, she pulled Kara into a hug, shuddering at her sister’s muffled crying. She and Lena had a good friendship even though they were cautious of each other at the start. She cared about her, too.

Kara paced for hours in the DEO, letting the rest of the Super Team take care of small criminals throughout National City. When pacing didn’t help get her mind off of Lena in surgery, she took off flying. She flew higher and higher until tears blinded her eyes and she had to stop. She looked around at the small dots on the ground that represented people and she let out a shaky breath. She was too busy protecting her city that she couldn’t protect Lena.

Before she beat herself up even further, Alex came through the coms. “She’s out of surgery.”

Within seconds, Kara was back at the DEO, nearly running over some agents.

“Sorry,” Kara mumbled to those she bumped into. “Where is she?”

Alex turned to her then pointed to a room to the left of her. Kara burst through the door, nearly tearing it down even though it was pure metal.

“She’s not awake yet. She just came out of surgery. They stopped her internal bleeding and took care of some other major injuries, but she’s still weak.” Alex said softly, coming behind Kara. “She needs to sleep and rest to fully recover.”

Kara stared at her best friend, at how fragile she looked, and nodded. After a while, it was clear to Alex that her younger sister would not be leaving this room anytime soon. 

“Let me know if you need anything or if she wakes up.” Alex said, turning to leave the room. 

For hours, Kara paced around Lena’s hospital bed or sat by it holding her hand. She tried to ignore how cold Lena’s hands were and focused on her heartbeat instead. It seemed to help calm her nerves and she fell asleep to it.

Kara woke up from a squeeze she felt in her hand. She jolted, knocking down her chair. She turned, wide-eyed, to her best friend and saw her emerald green eyes looking back at her. Lena groaned and rubbed her head to try to stop the room from spinning.

“Supergirl?” Lena asked, groggily.

Kara forgot she was still in Supergirl’s suit. And she was still holding Lena’s hand.

“Lena.” Kara let go of her hand and relief flooded over her, thankful that she seemed fine after major surgery.

She called for Alex, letting her know Lena was awake, and tried to ignore the fact that she was holding Lena’s hand. She had no explanation to give to her when she didn’t know Supergirl was Kara, so she just hoped Lena won’t remember it. Kara hoped the anesthesia made Lena’s memory foggy.

Alex came in herself, mentioning that she was taking over as Lena’s doctor.

“You’re still recovering. Your rest helped with your slight concussion but you need to stay here for at least a couple more days.” Alex stared at Lena, emphasizing the last part.

Lena tried to nod but it felt like her brain was being run over by an eighteen-wheeler. “You got it, Danvers.”

Alex winked at Kara before leaving the two alone.

“Do you remember anything specific?” Kara asked after a moment of silence. “It could help us find who did this.”

Lena shook her head. “I don’t remember much right now. I just know they were politicians. If not, they’re definitely people who are passionate about politics.”

“Why would you say that?”

“When they were hitting me, I heard a handful of words that were related to the politics of National City so I assumed.” Lena shrugged.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Kara smiled.

“Thanks, Supergirl.” Lena nodded, not wanting to get too close to the hero of National City. “If you don’t mind, I’d like a little bit of rest. I want to get back to LCorp as soon as possible.”

Kara frowned, noticing the slight hostility from Lena. She gave a firm nod and left. She wasn’t surprised that Lena wasn’t as open to her alias compared to Kara Danvers. They had disagreements over the years relating to criminal activity and Lena felt Supergirl to be more familiar to her than she liked. Supergirl reminded Lena too much of her best friend and Lena was uncomfortable with that most of the time.

Throughout the next couple of days, Kara managed to still visit Lena in the DEO hospital wing to make sure she was feeling better. When she asked for an earlier discharge, Kara wasn’t surprised, but she wasn’t too happy about it. Alex gave permission after making Lena promise she would take it easy. She knows how desperate Lena wanted to get back to her company.

Two afternoons after Lena was discharged, Supergirl showed up outside her office window. Kara smiled internally as well when she noticed Lena’s softened expression. She knew how busy she had been, even though she had only been back at work for a few days. Kara was a happier Supergirl when Lena is more open to the hero.

“Supergirl,” Lena said slowly, raising her eyebrows in question. “What a surprise. Is something wrong?”

Kara started playing with her fingers, a habit of hers that made an appearance whenever she was nervous around Lena. 

“No, nothing is wrong.” Kara added quickly, but Lena noticed the slight hesitation.

“What is it? Did my mother threaten to kill you again?” She joked, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

“Lena.” Kara couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at Lena’s humour. “No, I-I just want to tell you something.” 

Lena was definitely becoming more worried by the second. Supergirl never stutters or hesitates. She was the definition of courage and brave and she spoke with so much confidence Lena was convinced she could persuade a billion people to do the right thing.

“Well?” Lena pushed.

“Actually, let me show you.” Kara takes a deep breath and pushes a button that changed her Supergirl suit to her regular clothes.

As the protective material fades and Kara Danver’s blouse and pants come into view, Lena is speechless. Of course, she questioned whether her best friend was the superhero she had worked alongside with for two years. There were obvious hints through the years when Kara Danvers was in trouble with Lena, but she had always dismissed the thought. She didn’t want to believe that her best friend, someone she had grown to trust, would lie to her for so long.

“Before you say anything, I want to explain.” Kara said, eyes frantically trying to meet her best friend’s with no such luck. “I’m so sorry I kept this secret from you for so long.”

Lena looked up, feeling anger creeping up on her, but nodded to urge Kara to continue.

“I wanted to tell you for so long that I was Supergirl, but I kept stalling and eventually I didn’t. I thought that if you don’t find out this side of me, I could keep you as a friend. I know sometimes you and Supergirl disagree on some topics when you work together and you would be so mad and disappointed in her. But then I become Kara Danvers, your best friend, and it’s like the arguments never happened. I wanted to just be Kara Danvers with you because I wanted to have someone in my life that isn’t burdened with this truth.” Kara pauses and takes a deep breath before continuing. “Now I know that was selfish and I’m sorry. Even if I didn’t have those selfish excuses, I still wanted to protect you. So many people that I care about know my secret and they are in danger every single day. I don’t want to put you in danger like that because I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I had to live without you. I’m so sorry.”

Lena stayed silent, taking in Kara’s tears clouding her eyes and watched as it overflowed and ran down her cheeks. A part of her understood. Kara Danvers was very important to her, too. But that is also why she felt her cheeks flush in anger and frustration. In betrayal. Kara Danvers was the first person she fully put her trust in since she came to National City. She remembered all the ways she had been betrayed in the past and she closed her eyes, trying to stop her own tears. 

“You can leave the same way you came in,” Lena said, staring at the ground. She heard Kara’s Supergirl suit materializing over her regular clothes and she looked up two seconds later, staring at where Kara had been standing just a second ago.

Lena didn’t fully understand what she was feeling. She was angry but she was also excited. Her best friend was everyone’s hero and she felt a sense of proudness for Kara. She reached for a bottle of Scotch sitting on the edge of her desk and poured herself a large glass to shove down any positive feeling. She wanted to feel the rage. She had been betrayed so many times before she felt a sense of similarity. But she also felt more hurt than any other time. She loved Kara in a way she had never loved anyone before. 

She finished the entire bottle within minutes even though it was still four in the afternoon. She drank another bottle to try to calm herself down, but it barely worked. She already felt slightly drunk and she stumbled across the room to the door, almost tripping over her ridiculously high heels. She cursed quietly and walked out of her office, telling Jess to cancel the rest of the day because she was heading home early. She ignored the comments of concern from her secretary and made her way to her car. She did a drunken 180, looking for her driver but he was nowhere to be found. She didn’t blame him. She very rarely requested a ride at this hour. Her work days were almost always seven days a week, and she wraps up the day around nine or ten at night if she’s lucky. 

Lena winced when she started walking home, feeling the pain of being in heels for so long. Her apartment was more than ten blocks away and she felt the pain in her feet after every step. She stumbled past a couple of her neighbors and aimed her key at the keyhole. She missed a few times before steadying herself and focused all of her attention on getting the door open. 

Her apartment wasn’t the fanciest, even though she’s a billionaire. She never liked living in large places after living in a huge mansion with Lillian and Lex for years. It always felt empty and it never felt like home to her. Now, she lived in a decent sized apartment with darker and modern furniture. It had two bedrooms even though she never had anyone over. She threw her Jimmy Choos on the floor, sighing in relief when she felt her feet muscles relax. 

Kara had just gone home after dealing with petty criminals. She let herself settle down after her small scuffle with the criminals, finally letting herself think about Lena. She knew it would hurt her so she expected a similar reaction, but she couldn’t help feeling bad. She knew she should’ve said something a long time ago, but she had her reasons. But then again, her reasons were quite selfish. 

Her sister sat down next to her.

“So, what’s been bothering you?” Alex asked.

Kara turned to her in surprise, thinking she was being subtle with her problem. “What do you mean?”

“You mentioned you were going to talk to Lena this morning and when you came back, your mood was completely different.” Alex took a sip of her wine.

“I told her,” Kara said slowly.

“About your feelings?” Alex was the surprised one now.

“What feelings?” Kara looked puzzled. “No, I told her I’m Supergirl.”

Alex was quiet for a minute. “She didn’t take it well.”

Kara shook her head. “No. I mean, I expected a bad reaction but I didn’t expect me to be so hurt by it. I didn’t expect to feel so bad and guilty about it.”

Kara began to tear up and took a deep breath to steady herself. Alex reached over and put her hand gently on top of her younger sister’s. 

“She just needs time to register why you didn’t tell her. You’re going to be fine. You’re her best friend.” Alex wasn’t so sure she believed it herself. She knew Lena had trust issues because of her past and she had warned Kara about it before but now that Kara confessed, she didn’t know what their relationship will be like.

Kara let herself fall onto Alex’s lap and stared up at the ceiling. She didn’t like the feeling of her best friend being so furious with her but she knew it was her fault.


	2. Chapter 2

Lena woke up with a painful hangover and she groaned when her phone continued to ring. She fell back onto her pillow and she stretched out her hand to answer her phone that was on her bedside table.

She didn’t notice the caller ID and was taken aback when a familiar voice came through the speakers.

“My dear, Lena,” Lillian Luthor’s tone was flat. “Have you missed your mother?”

“Lillian.” Lena immediately sat up, her white sheets bunched in her free fist.

“I need your help,” Lillian got straight to the point.

“What else is new?” Lena scoffed.

“Let me rephrase,” Lillian said. “Lex needs your help.”

Lena was speechless. Her brother was the known genius of the family even though the rest of them are extremely intelligent, but Lex never begged Lena for help. Growing up, Lex had been there for Lena and taught her to channel her brain into her work. He was the only one in the Luthor family to treat Lena like she belonged and when he grew up to be one of the most famous villains, she was devastated. Lex was her first betrayal and she learned since, but she always had a soft spot for him.

“I doubt you’ll like your brother rotting in prison. He did have a soft spot for you, Lena.” Lillian said slowly, knowing Lena’s weakness is lack of love.

“I’d love that for him, actually,” Lena said. “And I thought you’d have a more compelling argument to get me on your side.”

Lillian laughed, sending chills down Lena’s spine. “This is just the beginning, Lena. I have already set Lex’s plan into motion. Your help is only a small fraction of the plan.”

Lena knew better than to trust her mother and brother again, but her frustration with Kara clouded her logical thinking. She had a feeling her mother was lying but she wasn’t sure about what, knowing Lillian’s pride was more important to her than Lena herself. 

“Don’t call me again,” Lena said, trying to sound tougher than she looked. In reality, she was afraid that she would fall to the dark side just like her brother. She had worked so hard for years to get rid of the burden of her family name and she hadn’t even come close. Not yet.

“That is not what I expected.” Kara stared, wide-eyed at the hundred foot meta in front of her.

“Where did he come from?” Nia Nal shouted. 

Kara looked at Dreamer and rolled her eyes. “Definitely Barry.”

The meta roared, deafening the people within a five-hundred foot radius. J’onn appeared, his expression grim.

“Supergirl, he has Kryptonite,” J’onn yelled over the screams of the people in the surrounding area. 

“How do you know? I don’t feel it.” Kara flew closer and activated her laser eyes, hoping it would penetrate the criminal’s skin.

“It’s Chax, Supergirl!” J’onn yelled even louder, afraid of getting too close to the meta.

Kara froze and Chax’s eyes grew red from hearing his name. Chax was just a mere criminal that appeared on the DEO’s radar a year ago. He smuggled aliens to an underground ring and Kara had fought him face to face along with a dozen of his partners in crime. She had only lost because they had got their hands on tons of Kryptonite before she had even been able to call for backup. She spent nearly five days in the medical ward in the DEO recovering from the searing pain.

When Barry messed with the timeline and their earths, the two earths became portals and anyone was able to easily travel between the two if they knew where to look. The Chax that just spun towards Kara and knocked her out of the air was a new meta, either a doppelganger from Barry’s Earth, or he had somehow been exposed to a particle accelerator explosion on this Earth.

Nia immediately shot out strings of her power to straighten Kara out mid-air. 

“You don’t have a Kryptonite shield,” Nia reminded Kara. “It broke last week and Lena isn’t here to make you a new one.”

Kara dodged the huge meta, thinking through her options. She would be in extreme pain and put her life in real danger if this Chax had as much Kryptonite as the last one but she didn’t want to endanger the rest of her friends. Her help in the battle would help them a long way.

Before Kara made up her mind, the meta paused and Kara collapsed to the ground from fifty feet from the concrete. He had pulled out two large chunks of Kryptonite and threw one of them, which weighs at least two hundred pounds, directly at Kara.

Nia rushed to Kara’s side, screaming into her coms for backup, while J’onn distracted the oversized criminal.

Kara’s head was bleeding, her skin covered in green lines. She wasn’t responsive and Nia noticed other broken bones from the impact and her powers weren’t there to heal her. Nia wrapped the Kryptonian in her dreamer strings for more protection over the now vulnerable hero and joined J’onn in the fight. 

Dreamer had always looked up to National City’s hero, even before she knew she was Kara Danvers. She credits her discovery and acceptance of her powers to her friend, and she was heartbroken seeing her own hero lying there on the pavement, bleeding like a normal human being.

The meta was gaining on J’onn but a loud clang made him stagger from surprise. Nia and J’onn turned around in shock and saw Maggie Sawyer holding up her now empty hand. The National City police force and the detectives of other branches in the government had gathered, scared of confronting Chax, but Maggie had had enough and threw her baton straight towards the monster.

Alex and a few DEO agents had just arrived to bring Kara to the medical ward to nurse her back to health and Alex was there just in time to watch Maggie throw a metal bar at the meta and she stared at her girlfriend, baffled.

“Nice aim, Sawyer.” Alex winked half-heartedly, rushing out of the crime scene, part of her proud of Maggie and another part of her worried for her sister.

Maggie laughed quietly, following half of the DEO agents back to their headquarters. She and Alex had been dating for a little more than a year and Kara had accepted her like family in an instant. She was always grateful to the Danvers for accepting her and loving her as if she was a part of their family when she didn’t feel like she had her own. 

J’onn was pinned down by Chax’s gigantic arm and Nia was struggling to get him out. When the DEO arrived at the scene, Brainy had followed them there but he stood still in front of the meta, doing absolutely nothing.

“Brainy! What are you doing?” Nia screamed desperately, knowing J’onn was about to be squished into a giant puddle of nothing.

Brainy didn’t respond, closing his eyes before opening them again a minute later. He began to chant in an ancient language that no one in the modern world can understand but Chax apparently did. He trained his eyes on the twelfth level intellect, his grip on J’onn loosened enough for him to escape. 

Brainy continued his chant and J’onn and Nia were able to use a distracted Chax to their advantage. Nia tied layers and layers of dreamer ropes around the criminal and J’onn was able to channel his strength and knock Chax off of his feet. She saw a small streak of black and red zoom by out of the corner of her eye but she was too focused on the meta in front of her to make anything of it.

Now dazed, Dreamer was able to put the powerful criminal to sleep long enough for some of the DEO agents to secure the area and capture a now shrunken Chax. Sure enough, his human face appeared and J’onn shivered from the familiarity, remembering how badly hurt Kara had been a year ago.

“Is she going to be okay?” Maggie asked nervously. She had just started dating Alex when Chax originally attacked and threatened National City. The image of Kara’s limp body a year ago popped into her mind and she had to push the thought away.

“She just needs the yellow sun.” Alex switched on the lamp but her voice wasn’t too convincing.

The yellow sun gave Kara her powers and helped her heal whenever she was injured by Kryptonite but every time she was exposed to that much, she had trouble getting back to full health. It would take two days at least for Kara to feel like she hadn’t been hit by fifty trucks.

Maggie reached over and held Alex’s hand, leaning her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Alex, I hate to say it but-” Maggie started.

“I know.” 

Recently, the crime rate in National City had increased because of the slight merging of the two earths. They knew they needed Supergirl to protect the city because even though the rest of the team is strong and capable, losing Supergirl for a while won’t help and would spread panic throughout the city. The citizens of National City needed to be assured that their hero would always be there to save the day.

“I wouldn’t normally offer, but…” Alex and Maggie turned to see J’onn in the doorway. He knew the risks as well and he knew he could easily shape-shift into whoever he wanted.

“Are you sure? It didn’t go so well last time.” Alex let out a small laugh, a little relieved that there might be something that could help the situation.

J’onn sighed and smiled from a little embarrassment. The last time he had pretended to be Kara, Lena had gone to the Danvers’ apartment and talked about an ex-boyfriend. It was more than awkward for J’onn.

“National City needs Supergirl,” he finally insisted.

Lena turned the television in her office off, spinning on her heels to walk back to her desk. She stared at a framed photo of her and the Danvers sisters and tears welled up in her eyes. She took a sip of her scotch and aggressively put down the glass of alcohol on the photo, breaking the glass on the frame.

She had been watching Supergirl fight criminal after criminal on the news for the past couple of days, yet she hadn’t heard anything from Kara personally. Lena knew she had a right to be mad, but she felt guilty that she expected Kara to talk to her again. She should’ve known better than to believe in someone that much.

She walked over to the balcony and stared outside the window for a minute, before eyeing the lock on the glass doors. She fiddled with her fingers, a habit that appears when she thinks of Kara, and locked the balcony doors without another thought. 

Filled with frustration and disappointment, in herself and in Kara, she walked out of her office, stopping for a second to let Jess, her secretary, know to cancel the rest of the day.

Lena held her head up high on the street, letting passersby know she was confident and whoever crossed her would pay devastatingly. To be honest, she always straightened her back more and held her head up high whenever she was about to face her family. Maybe the tough posture and confident aura was to convince herself that she was strong enough.

She found her way to her luxury car, which was parked outside of the other side of the building, and told her driver to take the rest of the day off. She drove steadily, ignoring the thoughts running through her head, to an empty farmland an hour outside of National City. She stepped out of the car, breathing in the fresh air. Lena looked around, trying to find a small silver mailbox. When the glint of silver caught her eye, she walked towards it and opened the slot.

“7, 1, 1, 7, 2…” Lena mumbled to herself, plugging in the password. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the numbers. 

She heard a shimmering sound in the background and she turned to the previously empty land. The Luthor mansion now stood in the same spot.

Lena didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, that she sought out her childhood home whenever she had something to be angry about. She was rarely so upset that she went looking for a comfort that had never been there, but this time was an exception.

After she had fled the Luthor mansion, she found her way back to where she was born. The Luthor mansion moved wherever Lex wanted it to after he wired it with some unnatural and unknown materials. Another mysterious material was used to cloak the location of the mansion, meant to be a terrifying surprise instead of a safe place.

Lena had known Lex moved the mansion to follow Lena when he found out she was going to share her home with National City’s hero. Over the years, Lena snuck off to the home to channel her anger and frustration to things that made her feel the same way when she was young. She hated everything about the mansion but she found herself going there anyway. This was only the fifth time she had resolved to this, but she was ready to break down walls.

She clenched her jaw, still somewhat nervous about going back into the place that haunted her for years, and opened the large door at the front of the mansion. 

A clear, chilled voice travelled through the air and Lena winced at the sharp noise. “I’ve been waiting for you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Kara opened her eyes and closed them immediately, blinded by the bright yellow light shining on top of her. She was confused for a minute, then remembered the fight. She bolted upright, calling for Alex, but she realized her sister was taking a nap in the corner of the room.

Alex’s eyes fluttered open, surprised that her sister was now awake. It had been three days since Kara faced Chax, a strong meta with Kryptonite, and she had been incredibly injured during the fight. 

“Kara,” Alex said, her voice full of concern. “I’m going to get the doctors.”

Alex was experienced in the medical field, but she didn’t always trust her skills when it came to her sister, especially after such a big injury.

Kara nodded and watched her sister leave in a hurry. She held her head in her hands and tears started to fall. She wasn’t sure why she was so devastated at first, but then she remembered Lena. They were in the middle of a fight and Kara hadn’t been there for her for who knows how long. 

A shuffle of feet outside the room became louder and louder and Kara wiped away her tears with the back of her palm, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she was crying.

Alex’s brows furrowed. Kara could never hide her feelings from Alex. Before she could ask if Kara was okay, the doctors gathered around the alien, peppering her with questions and expensive equipment. 

Kara cooperated with the medical staff, knowing they were only trying to be helpful, but she couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed. She wanted to go straight to Lena and apologize again. 

When the doctors gave the thumbs up to Alex, letting her know the yellow sun light had healed all of Kara’s large wounds, Kara tried to follow them out.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Alex stepped forward, softly pushing Kara back onto the bed.

“I need to check on Lena. She might be worried.” Kara frowned, trying to push past her sister.

Alex sighed. “Kara, just calm down and listen to me.”

She waited until Kara sat down with a huff, and filled her in. She explained that she was only in a coma for three days and that J’onn took over for her for the same amount of time. Kara nodded, feeling relieved that it had been less than half a week and that National City still had a version of Supergirl when the real one was gone. 

“J’onn?” Kara laughed out loud. “After what happened last time?”

Alex burst out laughing, too. “He did a wonderful job. There were a lot of criminals but most of them were just thieves or kidnappers. Nothing too wild.”

The girl of steel nodded, knowing Nia, J’onn, Brainy, and Maggie kicked ass. A memory suddenly flashed across her brain and Kara froze in fear.

Alex’s smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

Kara didn’t speak for a few seconds, trying to gather her words. “I-I saw something. I just remembered.”

“What do you mean?”

“Alex,” Kara’s voice warned. “It was me.”

After urging her sister to continue, she did. She told Alex that when she was circling Chax, she had seen something out of the corner of her eye. It was a black and red blur but she couldn’t really tell what it was at first. Before she had been hit by a big chunk of Kryptonite, which was thrown like a boulder by Chax, she locked eyes with a girl. Kara had been thinking through her options before being struck, but she had also been distracted by the familiar blonde hair and the blue eyes. The same features Kara had.

“So you’re saying you have a doppelganger.” Alex chose her words slowly. “Barry?”

Kara shook her head. “I don’t think so. She reminded me of Overgirl but it wasn’t her.”

“Were you the only one who saw her?”

“I think so. She was really far away and didn’t intervene,” Kara said. “I don’t think anyone noticed when Chax was standing in the middle of the city.”

Alex took a deep breath and walked over to the chair she was sleeping in an hour ago to pick up her jacket. “We better let the DEO know so they can look out for her.”

Kara nodded. She then glanced at her sister sheepishly. “You stayed here this whole time, didn’t you.” 

“Of course,” Alex said. “Come on, let’s get you some food first.”

“She looked exactly like me.” Kara waved her hands in the air, emphasizing how much they looked like twins. “It was unsettling.”

Kara was explaining to the rest of the Super Team what she had seen before she was knocked out. 

“Was she wearing black on black with a red symbol on her chest?” Nia asked quietly after no one said anything for a minute.

Kara looked surprised. “How did you know that?” She had thought no one else saw the mysterious blonde and now she’s thinking she might be wrong.

“I saw a blur of pure black and I thought I saw a red Super symbol before she flew by.” Nia explained.

“Are you sure it was a Super symbol?” J’onn asked, his worried voice represented everyone’s thoughts.

“I can’t be fully sure but it seemed like it.” Nia shook her head.

“If it is, it can’t be a coincidence.” Alex looked around the table. 

Brainy turned around and typed furiously before pushing himself from the desk, his rolling chair spun his entire body three times. 

“Not a coincidence. Her name is Red Daughter,” he said confidently. “She was first seen around Russia.”

Everyone looked at the genius with confusion splattered across their faces but they knew better than to ask him how he found that out. 

“Russia?” J’onn asked, even more puzzled.

“Indeed. I traced Lex to Russia months ago, before his trial. I believe the two matters are related.” Brainy folded his hands in deep thought.

“I don’t doubt Lex could be involved with Red Daughter,” Kara said. “But why was she here in National City? Why did she show up at the same time as Chax?”

“Maybe Chax is also part of Lex’s plan, whatever it is.” Nia Nal chimed in.

“Hold on,” Alex said. “First of all, why does she look exactly like my sister?”

“The only explanation is that Supergirl’s entire being was split into another version of her from the Harun-el. She touched it, no?” Brainy explained.

Everyone nodded before he continued. 

“The other half of Supergirl must have appeared somewhere around Russia, where Lex had previous partnerships with Russian military, as you can see here.” He pointed to the screen, which sure enough showed footage of Lex Luthor shaking hands with a Russian military general. “Lex must have gotten word about someone that looked like Supergirl and he must have captured her and trained her, teaching her about her powers. I believe he hid her for months because he knew he was going to lose his trial so she can arrive at National City at the right time when he needs help with whatever he is planning.”

The room was eerily quiet. Brainy took a deep breath and mumbled an apology for getting so loud when explaining his findings before sitting down. Kara and Alex exchanged worried looks, knowing Lex Luthor would find his way back into their lives soon.

Lena had spent the past two days at her lab in LCorp drowning herself in her own work. She had been afraid to sleep after showing up at her childhood mansion days ago. Her mother had taken her by surprise by being at the house when she entered and this time, Lena didn’t shut her mother out. She had missed her best friend but she was still terrifyingly upset with her and she needed someone in her life to hang onto. Unfortunately, it was Lillian Luthor this time.

Her mother had called her before, wanting her help on a plan to get her brother out of prison. She had originally refused to help but it was still on her mind. After all, her brother did love her in his own way when they were kids and Lena had missed it. When her mother asked for help again, Lena took pride in it. Lillian never asks for help and most certainly doesn’t ask twice, and Lillian never asks Lena. She had always thought Lena was the least capable Luthor, even when she was four.

So, Lena accepted and she had worked on the plan nonstop for forty-eight hours. She spent a few hours in her office looking through the blueprints her mother gave her, telling Jess to cancel the next week of meetings. She needed something to focus on other than Kara Danvers.

“All I need is for you to mass produce these.” Lillian had said, pointing to the drawing of a small robot. “Your job is to build it. The programming is all me.”

Lena hadn’t questioned that at the time, but she had grown suspicious. She still doesn’t fully trust Lillian, but she did as she was told. 

“I don’t know what that woman is up to, but I’m going to build some small weapons for myself,” Lena muttered to herself when she started her program to mass produce the robots in her lab. “You never know when your evil mother plans to attempt to murder you.”

Jess’ voice through the coms made Lena jump. She hadn’t had any contact from outside her underground lab for nearly two days. She had nearly forgotten anything else existed when she was so focused on building the robots. To be honest, she hadn’t done much herself since yesterday. She was busy the first day, scanning the blueprints and inserting the plan into a program she just built from scratch. On the second day, she just watched her program create hundreds of little robots and tried not to let her mind roam to frustrating territory.

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess said. “Um, Kara Danvers is in the building.”

Lena’s breath caught in her throat. She had nearly forgotten about her anger for Kara. 

“What is she doing here?” Lena said absentmindedly, more to herself, but Jess heard her.

Jess stayed quiet, knowing the two friends were at odds with each other but she wasn’t sure why.

“Thanks, Jess. I’ll be right up.” Lena got up from her chair.

“Ms. Luthor, I’m not sure why Kara is here,” Jess quickly interrupted. “She’s just standing by the elevator. She never came by me to ask if you were in.”

Lena found that strange. Supergirl would’ve flown by if she wanted to talk to Lena. She knew Kara wouldn’t come by as Kara Danvers because her employees would start whispering about their friendship. Then she remembered she had locked the balcony and she shrugged, thinking that must be why Kara wasn’t here as Supergirl.

“I got it, Jess. Thanks.” Lena made her way up from her lab but not before shutting down her program. She had already made over two hundred robots, which she was sure was enough to help Lex escape. She thought it was weird that Lex needed two hundred robots to get out of a prison cell, but she dismissed it. Her brother had his reasons.

Lena wasn’t sure what she was expecting but it wasn’t this. She got out of the elevator and she immediately saw Kara leaning against a wall, head tilted up towards the ceiling.

Kara heard the ding of the elevator and turned, a small smile plastered on her face.

“Lena?” Kara said.

Lena raised an eyebrow. She was positive that that was more of a question than a greeting and she was positive that that was a Russian accent. 

Kara cleared her throat, seemingly aware that she sounded Russian, but her smile never faded. Instead, she just stared at Lena, locking eyes one second and looked at another part of her the next.

Lena was most certainly confused at this point. She knows Kara inside and out and the woman standing in front of her did not seem like the person she knows so well. It definitely looked like her best friend, but her behavior was different. It was as if Kara had forgotten all about their fight.

Before Lena could ask anything, Kara frowned more deeply than Lena had ever seen before, as if she was being yelled at. She tugged at her neatly tucked blouse as if it was uncomfortable and made her way to the elevator.

Lena stared at the other woman in complete shock. She hadn’t even said one word to Kara. She was on the verge of apologizing to her best friend even though she wanted to ask Kara what was going on because she was acting so weird, but she just left before Lena could even open her mouth. Lena just felt weirdly guilty about being so distant recently, but her anger rushed back into her when Kara left so suddenly like that without another word. 

Alex pointed to the computer screen so quickly she almost toppled onto Brainy.

“Watch it!” He exclaimed.

“Sorry,” Alex mumbled. The DEO had been tracking Red Daughter with no leads for two days until now. Alex was the first one who noticed the blinking red dot that just appeared in front of them.

“That has to be her.” Maggie said. Alex’s girlfriend showed up at the DEO in the middle of the day, reassuring Alex that she had the rest of the day off. She was filled in on the details of Red Daughter and she was more than happy to help.

“That can’t be right.” Kara’s expression was purely confusion. “That’s LCorp.”

“What is she doing at Lena’s building?” J’onn asked.

“Lena’s in danger, I need to go.” Kara was prepared to fly to Lena’s office but she was held back by more than one pair of arms.

Alex ignored her sister’s grunt of frustration. “The dot is gone. Red Daughter disappeared again.”

“Calm down, Supergirl. You’re in a fight with her, remember?” Nia reminded her. 

“I don’t care.” Kara was annoyed. “She might be in danger!”

Alex and Maggie exchanged looks. “Hey, why don’t we go check on Lena? We’re pretty badass, too, you know.”

That prompted a small smile from Kara.

“If she’s hurt, we’ll call you right away.” Alex continued. “It’s not a good idea for you to go.”

Kara knew her sister was right. She had to stay on the sidelines for this one. She doubted Lena had forgiven her and if she’s not hurt, she would ruin her day by showing up unannounced. Plus, Kara trusted Alex and Maggie to take care of Lena.

Alex took Kara’s silence as permission and motioned for Maggie. 

“Will they ever figure it out?” Maggie asked when they were outside the DEO headquarters.

“I hope so,” Alex responded. “They won’t ever recover if they don’t forgive each other.”

They stayed silent the rest of the way to LCorp. They both acknowledged the importance of the relationship between Kara and Lena and they both meant tremendous amounts to them, too. They have spent months on end like a family and neither Alex or Maggie wanted to throw it away.

Jess looked up when she heard the elevator arrive at the top floor of Lena’s company building. She instantly pressed the button on the receiver, letting Lena know she had guests. Jess had been around Lena Luthor long enough to grow familiar with the Danvers and Maggie Sawyer. 

“Thanks, Jess.” Maggie winked at the secretary.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Can you  _ be  _ more obvious?”

Maggie laughed, opening the door to Lena’s office, and was about to tease Alex back when she noticed Lena standing right in front of them.

Lena was wearing a sleek three-piece suit and her hair was down in an elegant flow, an unusual hairstyle she sports at the office. 

“Lena,” Alex said, a little surprised. “You’re okay!”

Maggie glanced at her overly enthusiastic girlfriend. “We’re glad you’re in one piece, Luthor.”

Lena flinched at the mention of her last name even though she was used to Maggie saying it. She had to admit that recent events had taken a toll on her, but she was confused as to why they were here. Of course, she was happy to see them but they never visited her at her office unless something was wrong.

“Is something wrong?” Lena asked, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she was worried about Kara.

“No, everyone is fine,” Alex replied, quick to reassure her. “We were just checking up on you.”

“Oh.” Lena gave a simple response.

Maggie noticed the slight hostility and frowned. She liked Lena but she didn’t like how she’s been acting recently. “Are you okay?”

Lena nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She didn’t mention seeing Kara earlier. She missed her friends but she couldn’t seem to have enough energy to be near them when Kara wasn’t there.

Alex eyed Lena. “Lena, was Kara here earlier today?” She was careful to mention her sister’s name in front of her.

“Why would she be?” Lena tried to not give away that she was lying. She didn’t know why she felt it necessary to lie, but she somehow didn’t want them to know that she had been excited to see Kara until she had left so suddenly like that.

“Lena, that wasn’t Kara.” Alex saw through her lie as usual. “It was Red Daughter.”

The CEO was speechless for a minute. She had heard that name before, once, when she had eavesdropped on one of her brother’s phone calls before he had been sent to prison. 

“I’ve heard Lex mention that name before.” Lena swallowed. “Why does she look exactly like Kara?”

Alex explained the effect of Harun-el and what Lex had been doing with the twin of Supergirl and all Lena did was nod.

“That makes sense.” Lena debated whether or not she should tell them about her helping Lex. She decided against it when she realized they weren’t who she’s upset at and telling them she was helping her brother would definitely make them hate her. She couldn’t risk losing more friends.

“Lena, Supergirl was hurt.” Alex looked towards the floor. She was worried that Lena would be upset at her and the rest of their friends. She knew Lena hated being lied to and she felt lucky that Lena wasn’t even angry at them for keeping Kara’s secret identity hidden from her. To be fair, Kara’s secret wasn’t for anyone else to tell, but Alex felt that they were bad friends to Lena nonetheless. She paused before continuing, hoping her next words won’t anger Lena because she had kept something from her once again.

Lena’s head turned so quickly, Alex was sure her neck would snap. “What?”

“Look, I know someone should’ve told you but we weren’t sure if you’d appreciate it so

we decided against it.” Alex ran her fingers through her hair. 

“I’m not mad at any of you. Just Kara. None of you did anything wrong.” Lena locked eyes with Alex. “But I will be if you don’t explain what happened.”

Alex went back to the beginning, describing the fight with Chax. At the mention of Kryptonite, Lena’s jaw clenched. She had a disagreement with Supergirl months ago because she had figured out how to make the deadly material, back when she didn’t know Supergirl was Kara. Alex pretended not to notice and continued.

“It wasn’t Kara on the TV those three days. J’onn took her place so she could recover.” Alex looked at Maggie, who was silent the entire time, for help.

Maggie smiled at her girlfriend. “We know what’s going on between you two. I mean, we don’t know everything, but we just thought you should know what happened. We owe you that much.”

Lena didn’t understand what she was feeling. She still feels agitated about being lied to and being betrayed by someone she loved so much, but that feeling is slowly being overcome by worry. 

“Thanks for stopping by.” Lena turned, leaving Maggie and Alex to show themselves out. 

They slowly left the way they came and Lena let out a sigh. She was worried and upset about Kara again. Honestly, she wanted to stay angry at Kara because she needed something to channel her anger. Kara’s betrayal was her last straw and she felt broken. She didn’t know how to pick up her pieces again, for maybe the tenth time in her life. She needed to be mad at Kara or else she would be completely lost, but she also had such conflicting feelings for her. She was grateful for Maggie and Alex for stopping by, truly, but she was now more stressed than before. 

She headed down to her lab to finish her part of the plan. Tears began to overflow her eyes and fell down her cheeks.


	4. Chapter 4

Kara had stayed away from Lena for a week, wanting to give her some time before approaching her again. She had listened to Maggie and Alex’s version of their conversation with Lena and she didn’t know what to think of it.

“We thought we convinced her, I swear.” Alex shook her head in disbelief.

“Yeah, she just suddenly tensed up again at the end.” Her girlfriend, Maggie, agreed.

They had explained to Kara that Lena was more like the Lena they all were friends with in the beginning, but she had suddenly grown hostile at the end. They can’t figure out what triggered her to shut them out so quickly.

“Maybe I should go over there.” Kara stood up. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Alex asked, worried.

Maggie put her hand on her shoulder, silently motioning to her girlfriend that Kara should sort this out with Lena. She had avoided the confrontation for too long already.

Alex noticed Maggie staring at her.

“What? Is there something on my face?” Alex asked, her hand flying up to her cheeks.

Maggie gave her a quick kiss. “No, I’m just glad we never had that whole ordeal. Too much drama.”

All Alex could do was smile and kiss her girlfriend back. She was worried for her friends. She had her own suspicions about Lena and Kara’s whole relationship, but she never mentioned anything to them. She thought it would be better if they figured it out themselves.

“Ms. Luthor, Kara Danvers is here.” Jess spoke into her earpiece.

Lena’s breath caught in her throat. Previously, she had her secretary show in Kara immediately with no questions but she thought it was best for her to be prepared to face her best friend after they had gotten into a big fight.

She stood up from her office chair, tugging at the helm of her nicely fitted suit jacket. 

“Show her in.” Lena commanded.

There was a soft knock against Lena’s big wooden office doors before it was opened. Lena clenched her jaw subconsciously, fixing her dreamy green eyes on the woman in front of her. She took in Kara’s tight blue dress, hugging every single one of her curves.

“Lena.” Kara’s heart fluttered nervously against her chest and she couldn’t help but overhear Lena’s pounding heart beat as well. 

“Lena-” She repeated but was cut off.

“I know why you’re here, Kara.” Lena started. “And I’m telling you to leave.”

Kara swallowed hard. She would’ve thought Lena was going to be at least a little more forgiving. 

“What?” Kara’s voice broke slightly but Lena heard it. Kara focused her blue eyes on Lena. She distracted herself so she wouldn’t start crying by staring intensely at Lena’s intertwined fingers. 

Lena had given up hope that her best friend would ever show up in front of her again on a more personal note after she hadn’t heard anything from her for weeks. Alex and Maggie had shown up last week to talk and she actively listened to what they had to say, but it wasn’t Kara. She was hurt from Kara’s betrayal and she thought she was important enough to the hero to take up some of her time but she never showed up. Originally, she thought Kara had been busy with Supergirl duties, but she hadn’t even been on the news the past couple of days. Somehow, the crime rate in National City had gone down this past week.

“Get out.” Lena’s voice was slightly lower. Flashes of anger kept coming back to her and her childhood memories followed. Everyone knows she had family issues, but they weren’t aware of how deep. Kara was the only one who made herself understand what Lena had been through and that was why Lena trusted her so much. She saw images of Lillian, Lex, and Lionel in her head and then she heard the conversation between her and Kara when she revealed she was Supergirl. Lena’s past scars clouded her judgment and made her angrier at Kara than she should’ve been, but Kara was in the wrong so Lena didn’t care.

“I’m trying to apologize to you.” Kara refused to leave.

“So you’re doing me a favor?” 

“That’s not what I meant! I’m sorry I lied to you, Lena. I know I was wrong and I want you to understand that!”

“The thing is I do understand how you’re wrong! You lied to me for  _ years _ , Kara. You made me tear down my walls for you and I didn’t even know an entire side of you.”

“I wanted to protect you!” 

They were both starting to argue and they both had tears in their eyes.

“You were selfish! You only wanted to protect yourself, your own feelings. You didn’t want this confrontation because you were scared I would be mad at you. Did you ever think how hurt I would be? I’m the one who gets hurt by this, NOT you.” Lena yelled, her voice shrill.

Kara wanted to object but Lena wasn’t done.

“And you’re the reason why I went back to Lex!” Lena exploded in anger, accidentally revealing her partnership with the Luthors.

Kara was shocked to say the least. She knew how manipulative Lena’s family was, and she hated the fact that Lena went to seek comfort from people who could never give it to her just because Kara made a terrible mistake. She let her tears fall, taking in the view of her best friend in front of her. 

“I’m sorry.” Kara whispered, realizing how much pain Lena actually was in and she mentally kicked herself for not being there for her the past few weeks.

“I know you are.” Lena quickly shut her down. “But you don’t seem to know what you did exactly. So leave.”

Kara was about to object. She knew Lena was terrified of being betrayed and she betrayed her anyway. And on top of that, Lena’s family would betray her too. She felt a pain in her chest. Guilt. She didn’t say another word, wiping her wet cheeks. When she opened the door to leave, at least a dozen of Lena’s employees turned to stare at her, noticing her red eyes and flushed face. 

Alex spun when she felt a strong gust of wind behind her, nearly tripping on her own feet. She exchanged a look with J’onn on the opposite side of the room, both knowing it was Kara heading straight for the room downstairs that was filled with tons of heavy metal. She waited for the screeching sounds to end before heading to the bottom floor of the DEO headquarters. 

“This is bad,” Alex mumbled to herself. 

Kara never goes down there unless she’s  _ really  _ upset with something she couldn’t fix and the rest of the building rarely hears the metal folding over each other unless she was really  _ really  _ upset. 

Her sister was floating in the air, her back facing the floor, and her face in her hands. Alex could hear little sniffles coming out of the Kryptonian. Kara was so distracted she didn’t even hear her come in.

“Kara.” Alex sat down on the floor two feet behind Kara’s shadow.

Kara jumped so slightly that Alex didn’t notice. She quickly wiped her face with the back of her hands and she landed with a thump.

Alex stared into her younger sister’s red eyes. “Kara, what happened?” Alex asked softly.

“Alex, I screwed up.” Kara started crying again. “I screwed up so bad.”

Alex tugged on Kara’s cape, wondering when she had the time to change into her Supergirl clothes after visiting Lena. Kara sat down next to her sister and Alex offered her shoulder for Kara to lean on, waiting patiently for her to explain why she was so upset.

Kara explained her conversation with Lena, adding that it was more like an argument, and she told Alex about Lena’s involvement with the Luthors.

“She didn’t even mean to say that,” Kara explained, her sniffles getting less frequent. “She was never going to tell me.”

Alex’s mind was full of many different thoughts. She wanted to strangle Lena for making her sister so upset but then she remembered Lena was hurting nearly as much, if not more, too. 

“We don’t know how involved she is.” Alex tried to reassure Kara.

“It doesn’t matter. Her family is a bunch of sociopathic and manipulative assholes.” Kara paused, not wanting to say the next part. “What if she’ll become a Luthor?”

Alex understood what she meant. Lena had spent so many years trying to make a name for herself outside of her last name because of what her family had done to so many others. Kara had meant she was worried if Lena would be like Lex and Alex was almost upset that she even thought about that.

“Lena worked her ass off to be known as a good person. Someone that had nothing to do with those psychopaths. Don’t worry. And don’t feel guilty about it.” Alex kissed her sister’s head, hoping Kara believed her.

They both had faith in Lena making the right choice but they can’t stop thinking about what she had gotten herself into.

Lena glanced up from the stack of paperwork in front of her to look at the clock. She groaned when she saw it was barely past eight at night. She hadn’t been able to focus on her company work for the two days after Kara had visited her. She was behind on paperwork, meetings, and everything in between.

After trying to finish signing the rest of the stack of papers for an hour, she gave up. She walked over to a small locked closet in the back of her office and grabbed her backup outfit. Lena always brought a pair of jeans, a comfortable sweatshirt, and a painless pair of shoes with her and she usually puts it in the secret closet for when she got tired of being in such formal clothing. Most nights, she changed into them before heading home. She didn’t need to worry about anyone seeing her in casual attire when she always left the building past midnight.

Lena neatly folded the sweatshirt and jeans and placed it in her bag along with her sneakers and walked over to her desk before she left to tidy up the files and papers. 

“Jess,” Lena said softly, locking her office behind her. “You can go home, I’m leaving early tonight.”

Jess, her secretary, looked up in surprise. In the years she had worked under Lena Luthor, she had never gone home before eleven at earliest. 

Without waiting for her employee’s response, Lena left the building and headed to her car on the other side of LCorp. She sat for a while, debating whether she should go home. Her penthouse, although not as fancy as it could be, still felt empty to her. It often reminded her of the Luthor mansion but it felt more like home to her considering the Luthors weren’t there.

Thinking about her childhood house reminded her of her family and she grew upset at Lillian and Lex for not being there for her when she grew older. She wondered if Kara thought she would become a female version of her brother when she had heard she was working for him.

Finally deciding to not go home yet, she started driving, aimlessly at first. Then, she spotted a familiar neon sign out of the corner of her eye. She pulled up, parking perfectly. She grabbed her bag and walked into the bar, heading straight for the bathroom towards the back. 

After changing into comfortable clothes and shoes, she walked back into the main room, immediately signaling the bartender for a glass of scotch.

Kara was sitting in her living room eating with her sister and Maggie when she received a phone call. 

“Kara?” A voice said.

“M’gann?” Kara asked, confused as to why her bartender friend was calling. 

Alex and Maggie looked up at the same time, wondering the same thing.

“Yeah, sorry to bother you, but Lena Luthor is black out drunk.” M’gann apologized. “I know she’s your friend so I was thinking you could get her home safe. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“I’ll be right over.” Kara put her Thai takeout down on the table. “Thanks.”

“Where are you going?” Alex asked, swallowing the rest of her dinner.

“Lena.” Kara flew out of her window without a further explanation.

M’gann looked up when she heard the door open. She knew Kara was Supergirl and she helped out at the DEO sometimes when needed. They weren’t close friends, but they knew each other enough.

“She’s right over there.” M’gann gave a small smile, pointing to a table in the back corner of the room.

Kara nodded, walking towards the table slowly. She sighed.

Lena’s head was on the table, her right hand still holding on to a glass of alcohol. Kara didn’t even want to guess how much she had had to drink to be in that state.

She stood there for a minute, looking at Lena in casual wear. She wasn’t too used to seeing Lena in a sweatshirt and jeans, and especially not in casual sneakers, outside her work unless she was hanging out with her friends. She smiled to herself at Lena’s strand of hair that was sticking further out than the rest.

Kara stopped staring and walked over to try to wake her best friend. With no luck, she moved Lena into her arms bridal style, careful not to hit her limbs against the table. She ignored the weird looks from people in the bar and flew out the back door of the bar to the CEO’s penthouse.

Kara had only been to the penthouse a couple times since Lena preferred spending time at Kara’s more comfortable apartment. She shielded the woman in her arms when she crashed through her window and she felt guilty for breaking it but Lena was a billionaire. She wanted Lena safe in her bed so she didn’t bother trying to unlock her door the normal way.

She set Lena down on the couch first and removed her shoes. After dropping Lena’s things on the table in the middle of the living room, she picked Lena up again and went to put her on her bed. Kara slowly rested Lena’s head on a pillow and carefully rolled the bottom part of her body onto the bed. She placed a light blanket on top of her and went to get a glass of water and a bucket to put next to Lena’s bed for when she wakes up. 

Kara left Lena to sleep for a few hours, deciding to tidy up some things in the penthouse after she had cleaned up all the glass shards from the broken window. She froze two hours in when she heard Lena empty her stomach into the bucket, but she continued whatever she was doing when she used her super hearing and heard Lena’s breathing even out again. She kept herself busy with tidying by not using her super speed because she told herself she’d get a chance to talk to Lena whenever she fully awakes.

Kara started pacing in room after room for nearly an hour after she finished cleaning, sometimes stopping to check in on a sleeping Lena, when her phone rang. She quickly answered it to stop the loud ringing, afraid it might wake up Lena, but she was still out cold. 

“Alex, it’s nearly sunrise. Why are you calling me so early?” Kara whispered, forgetting she had left Maggie and Alex at her apartment hours ago.

“You left hours ago and you’re not back yet so Maggie and I spent the night coming up with a plan to help Lena.” Alex explained. “Wait, why are you whispering? Where are you?”

“Uh, hold on.” Kara peeked into Lena’s room to make sure she was still sleeping. 

“Hey,” Kara said from behind them, hanging up.

Alex and Maggie nearly jumped out of their skin. 

“Jesus.” Maggie put her hand on her chest.

Kara left Lena’s penthouse after she made sure she was okay and flew to her own apartment in seconds. Maggie was still not used to Kara’s super speed flying and she jumps nearly every time Kara surprises her like that.

“Sorry.” Kara giggled. “So what’s the big plan?”

The sun had come up by the time Alex and Maggie finished explaining what they had come up with to Kara.

“You want to confront Lex Luthor in prison to try to convince him to leave Lena alone?” Kara questioned.

The idea seemed ridiculous but they only pitched it because they knew Kara could persuade anyone to do anything. But again, this was Lex Luthor. 

“Just make sure how far Lena had gone for them. I know this is going to be hard but what else can we do at this point?” Alex said. “We don’t know how much Lex and Lillian had influenced Lena so far and we need to stop her before she goes even further.”

All three of them knew that was true.

Kara sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

J’onn frowned in response to the girls’ plan. Three hours later, after a big breakfast, Alex, Maggie, and Kara reported to the DEO and explained their plan to the rest of the team.

“That’s definitely a long shot.” J’onn rubbed the back of his head.

“We know,” Kara said. “But we don’t have any other ideas. Lena deserves to stop being manipulated by her- people.”

Alex noticed her correcting herself. She hated that Kara beat herself up so much sometimes.

“It’s not the best idea…” Nia sugar coated her opinion. “But anything can help right now. We have no idea on what the Luthors are planning.”

Kara knew it would be nearly impossible to convince someone like Lex to stop using people, especially people she cared about, but she needed any sliver of hope. She didn’t want Lena to make a mistake that would throw all of her hard work out of the window.

Maggie had to go back to her actual job as a detective of National City so Alex was the only one who accompanied Kara to where Lex was being held. Nia and J’onn were at the DEO waiting for small criminals to pop up and Brainy was there tracking the computer for any signal of Lillian Luthor.

The Danvers made their way to the warden’s office, hoping to intimidate him in a Supergirl outfit and an agent uniform. 

“Where’s Lex Luthor?” Kara demanded. She had gotten angry the moment she stepped foot in the prison and her tone of voice was flat but tensed. She hated Lex Luthor more than she could possibly explain, mostly because of how much he manipulated Lena into doing whatever he wanted for years. 

Alex didn’t question her sister’s tone, knowing the reason why she was irritated. 

The warden backed up in a mixture of shock and fear, his hands flying up in surrender. “I don’t know.” He claimed.

“You don’t know?” Kara nearly growled, but then her voice softened from confusion. 

“I-I don’t know.” The warden repeated, his fear was plastered on his face.

Alex advanced, stopping directly in front of him. “I don’t know if you’re lying or if you’re confused because he sure as hell was in this prison.”

He gulped and the blood drained from his cheeks.

“So if you don’t want me to force it out of you, you better start talking. And it better be the truth.” Alex continued, her gaze hardening. Alex hated Lex almost as much as her sister did. She knew how much trouble he brought to the Supers and to Lena.

Kara crossed her arms in the background, waiting for an explanation. She had no doubt her sister could scare him into telling the truth and she was right.

“Okay, okay.” The warden swallowed. “He’s not… here.”

Kara clenched her jaw. That was a problem.

“What do you mean?” Alex pushed.

“He paid the entire prison organization millions to let him go and to stay quiet. That’s why it’s not even on the news. Only a handful of people know about it.” The warden explained.

Kara was silent the entire time. She didn’t like that Lex had gone so far underground that even the DEO didn’t know about it and she wondered if Lena had known. She couldn’t help but wonder if Lena had anything to do with his escape but the warden told her that Lex had escaped nearly three months ago.

“I need to tell her.” Kara said to Alex.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a little anxiety attack sort of scene so I thought I should make a little warning beforehand. Just in case.

Lena stirred from the bright sunlight coming through her bedroom window and she made the mistake of looking right at it as she opened her eyes. Her head pounded against her skull so hard she had to lay back down. 

She only had random flashes of the night before but none of them included a memory of how she got home. She remembered drinking way more than she should’ve at the bar and she remembered small bits of throwing up into a bucket on her bedside table in the middle of the night a few times, but that was it.

Lena slowly got up to look for anything that could ease her headache right now, already planning to make her way to work. Her lab was all she could think about. She dry swallowed two pills and drove straight to her company’s building.

“Good morning, Ms. Luthor.” Jess, her secretary, greeted her when the CEO walked past her.

Lena smiled, not really in a mood to talk. She quickly finished some leftover paperwork from the day before and rushed through a meeting, anxious to finish up what she was doing in her lab downstairs.

“Jess,” Lena said, heading to the elevator after she finished her day’s work. “I’ll be downstairs.”

Lena pulled out her phone immediately after the elevator door closed.

“Lena, what a surprise.” Lillian Luthor’s voice came through the speakers, dripping with sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes before replying. “I assume you’d like to see the finished toys.”

Lillian didn’t expect her daughter to finish her part of the plan so quickly and was slightly taken aback. Lena knew her mother always thought of her as the least capable in the Luthor household, Lex always being the most superior in her eyes.

“Since you want to see me so bad, I’ll give you a nice surprise later tonight.” Lillian hung up the phone before Lena could respond with her own snarky comment.

At this point, Lena had already gotten to her lab and had started to set up her equipment for the day. Her job was to mass produce a few hundred little robots and she had built her own program to make it for her a little while ago. She had always felt more relaxed in her lab than anywhere else, always having ideas and trying to execute them. 

Her lab felt empty today. She wasn’t filled with excitement when she looked around the room she had designed herself and she was bored for the first time. It was as if helping her family was physically and mentally draining for her.

Alex had been following her sister around for hours, trying to get her to pause and think.

“I  _ have  _ to tell her, Alex.” Kara kept repeating. “She needs to know that she’s being tricked!”

“She’s mad at you right now.” Alex tried not to sound annoyed. “She might think you’re lying to her again and she’ll fall deeper into the Luthors’ trap.”

Kara knew she was right on some level but she was willing to risk it. Lena deserved to know the truth and Kara had made the mistake of denying her of it for years. She felt guilty and she desperately wanted to try to make it up to her best friend.

“I have to try.” Kara said.

“Her love for her family is so complicated and deep. It’s completely different for her.” Alex was still trying to protect her younger sister.

“Alex.” Kara warned, her voice sounding more desperate by the second. “I have to try.”

Alex stopped. Their eyes met and Alex realized she was being too harsh on her sister. She nodded her head, finally letting go of the matter, remembering how much Lena actually meant to Kara.

“Supergirl, Alex.” Kara and Alex heard J’onn’s voice through their coms. “We need you back at the DEO.”

Kara changed into her Supergirl suit quickly but she missed the materializing tech she used to have. The technology was damaged in her fight with Chax and Lena wasn’t there to fix it. With one smooth motion, she grabbed Alex and they landed at the DEO in seconds.

“Supergirl!” Alex yelped in surprise. 

Kara mumbled a quick apology before reporting to J’onn. 

“What’s happening?” She asked.

The rest of the team gathered around the circular table and the tension in the air was nerve wracking. 

“Psi’s back.” Nia spoke up.

Kara’s small smile faded and an anxious expression replaced it. The last time Psi had been in town, Kara was away in Argo City and the rest of the Super Team had to deal with her. To say the least, Psi took a toll on all of them, more mentally than physically.

“We have a bigger chance of taking her down this time,” Alex piped up, hoping to ease the tension. “We have Supergirl.”

Everyone nodded in agreement but it was obvious they were still scarred from their last encounter with the criminal. They were right to be worried. Psi had incredible powers that attacked someone’s mind, showing them their biggest fears and their worst nightmares. 

Brainy cleared his throat. “She was last seen robbing a bank down Main a minute ago. There is nearly a 100% chance that she is still there right now.”

Kara was about to take off when a hand pulled her back.

“You’ll need backup.” J’onn’s voice was steady.

Still, she knew her friends couldn’t fight Psi again. Their last fight with her was enough.

Kara shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, I’ll call for backup if I need it.”

Psi turned at the sound of a cracked floor behind her. Her gaze landed on National City’s hero and she grinned. 

“I missed you last time.” Psi teased.

Kara had easily tracked where Psi was and she made a more dramatic entrance, angry that Psi had tortured her friends. She wasn’t there at the time but what she came back to told her enough.

“I can say the same.” Kara kicked Psi in the chest in a blink of an eye.

The criminal dressed in black leather flew across the room and slammed into a wall, cracking it in the process. She groaned in pain but she got up almost as fast as she had been hit. She met Kara’s eyes and held her gaze, feeling her power surge through her.

Kara knew she had made a mistake. The image of the bank around her faded and an image with Kara climbing into a single pod appeared. She felt as if she lived through her real parents abandoning her again. Kara started breathing heavier, feeling a panic when her younger self looked back at a burning planet before she was hit by an energy wave.

The scene changed and Kara relaxed for a second. She recognized it to be a dream she had had before, remembering she always woke up in a sweat afterwards. It was the dead of night and two fires were strong behind her. The rest of the Super Team and Lena were next to her, preparing to fight their biggest enemy yet. She had never been able to see who the enemy was, but she didn’t need to. Almost immediately, her friends started dying around her. Kara looked around in shock and tears poured out of her eyes uncontrollably. Lena was the last one to be killed and Kara collapsed with her best friend in her arms. She would use her super hearing, desperate to find a heartbeat but she’d always fail. The nightmare always ended with her screaming Lena’s name in despair, feeling like her whole world had collapsed all over again.

Kara was nearly hyperventilating, unaware that Psi had left her there minutes ago.

“Supergirl!” Nia and Alex ran to Kara. 

She was on the floor clutching her knees so tight that her knuckles were white and her eyes were wide with fear. 

Alex called for the DEO medics desperately, scared to even think about what her sister had seen.

A woman opened Lena’s office door and Jess ran in behind her with an apologetic look on her face. Lena looked up in surprise and gave Jess a little nod to let her know it was fine.

“You know, I didn’t doubt that you’d show up, mother.” Lena started, shuffling some paperwork around. 

“And why is that?” Lillian Luthor mocked.

“You always show up when you need something from me. Imagine our relationship if you’d show up just to be my mother.” Lillian smiled coldly in response to her daughter’s sass.

“Jokes aside, are you finished?” Lena’s mother got straight to the point.

Lena walked out of her office without a word, leaving Lillian standing in the same spot. Lillian Luthor scoffed before following like a needy pet.

The elevator ride down to Lena’s lab was eerily quiet, neither wanting to speak. The awkwardness was gone when Lillian caught a glimpse at the finished products.

“You did a decent job.” Lillian tried her hand at a compliment but Lena brushed it off.

“Stop acting like you’re actually proud of me.” Lena felt a pang in her chest. For years, Lena had only wanted her mother and Lex to be proud of what she could accomplish. After moving to National City, she decided their opinions shouldn’t matter but she sometimes still wished she was seen as successful in her family’s eyes.

Lillian glanced at her daughter. “I am proud.”

Lena swallowed back a little whimper and walked over to a table in the middle of her laboratory. She picked up a small, silver remote and handed it to her mother.

“I added some little quirks to make it easier to control. The original blueprints had nothing on how they can move however you want it to.” Lena shook her head, showing her annoyance that the blueprints seemed half finished. “I made it better.”

Lillian took the remote and looked at it in question. She’s incredibly intelligent but she couldn’t figure out what the remote had to do with the robots.

“What, you press this button and it does a dance?” Lillian teased.

Lena rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an ungrateful bitch, mother. The button is to compact all two hundred or so robots together so it doesn’t look like there is a whole army in public.”

Lillian noticed a sort of metal wire on the other end of the table that was shaped like a flat crown. 

“And that’s for controlling them?” She asked for confirmation.

Lena nodded and handed it to her. “Put it on your head and it can read your brain waves to command the robots.”

Lillian was silent for a minute and Lena wondered if she was actually going to thank her. She was wrong.

“At least you didn’t let me down.” Lillian pressed the button on the silver remote and the robots all shrunk to fit into one. She put on the metal crown and the small piece of metal followed her, floating a foot above the ground. 

“I hope you know I only used you for these little things.” Lillian’s voice was hard and she turned to walk out of Lena’s lab.

Lena had known deep down that her mother had been tricking her but she wasn’t sure how and a part of her wanted to believe it wasn’t true. She swallowed hard, turning away so her quivering lips are out of view from her mother. She heard the lab door shut and she let out a sigh of relief. Even though half of her wanted to believe her mother was there for her and not for what she needed her to build, she was prepared. Lena hadn’t told her mother that she ignored half of the blueprints, skipping over most of the weapons. The only weapon she had equipped with all of the robots were lasers. There were worse things in the world that she had survived.

Kara was still in a shocked stage for hours after her encounter with Psi. It took all of her strength and energy to push her fear out of her mind but then she began to cry from the pain. She had never told anyone about her greatest fears and nightmares but she almost came close to blurting it all out when Alex squeezed her hand in reassurance.

“Kara, you’re okay. You’re safe.” Alex softly pulled her sister into a hug, feeling Kara sob against her.

She didn’t think she was safe anymore. Kara had so much strength and power after coming to Earth and especially after putting on the cape, but she felt completely vulnerable and broken after seeing the things she wanted to see the least. The scenes Psi showed her were too real and it scared Kara more than anything. 

She suddenly pulled away from her sister, blinking away her tears. “Alex, I need to see Lena.” She sniffled.

Her sister looked at her as if the idea was the most ridiculous thing she had ever said in her life.

“What? No!” Alex cried in disbelief. “You need to rest!”

Kara shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes again. She started shaking from sobbing so hard.

“Oh.” Alex realized after a while. “Please be careful.”

Kara stopped crying in shock, small hiccups escaping her uncontrollably. Her eyes lit up and she quickly gave her sister another hug before flying out of the DEO, heading straight for Lena Luthor’s office.

Kara pulled down her shirt sleeve after quickly changing into regular clothes. She took the elevator to the top floor and smiled at Jess.

“Are you here for Ms. Luthor?” Jess asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yeah, is she in there?” Kara motioned to Lena’s office.

“She was down in her lab before but it’s been hours,” Jess explained. “I have no idea where she is now.”

Kara muttered a thanks and disappeared from sight. She stopped herself from panicking, reassuring herself Lena probably just lost track of time down in her lab, and super sped around the entire building to check for Lena. She mentally kicked herself when she saw her in her lab, muttering “I’m such an idiot” because she didn’t think to check the lab first when Jess mentioned it.

Lena didn’t even look up when Kara pounded on the door to her lab. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice someone was there until Kara yelled her name three times. 

Finally realizing Kara was looking for her, she panicked slightly before opening the door to let her in. She had been thinking about how she was being manipulated by her family again, even though she did prepare herself for it, and she wished she just disappeared from the world. Kara’s betrayal on top of Lillian’s harshness was too much for Lena and she didn’t know how much longer she could suppress the pain.

Kara marched in when Lena opened the door and was surprised to see Lena’s puffy eyes.

“Lena, what happened?” She asked with concern in her voice, forgetting why she came here in the first place.

Lena shook her head, refusing to tell her what had happened. She was still disappointed in herself that she let herself open up to Kara so much that Kara’s lies affected her so deeply. She refused to do it again.

Kara took the hint and stayed quiet for a moment before she remembered why she was at LCorp at all.

“I fought Psi.” Kara tried to meet Lena’s eyes. “I mean, I tried to.”

Lena’s expression was neutral.

“Did you see how she completely screwed me over?” She continued.

Lena glanced up for a second, meeting Kara’s blue eyes, but she glanced away almost as fast. She still refused to respond.

“I think you researched her powers out of curiosity last time so you should know what happened.” Kara’s explanation was slow.

Lena did remember what she had found out about Psi’s abilities but she wasn’t sure what Kara was trying to say.

“Lena.” Kara’s tone suddenly became so serious that Lena met her eyes again and didn’t look away.

Kara waited for Lena to say something but all she saw was pain and exhaustion written across her face. 

“I know you’re hurt and tired.” Kara said. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could show you how sorry I really am and how much I regret what I did to you. I realize my excuses don’t make up for how much pain I’ve caused you and I’m- I’m sorry.”

Lena’s eyes were still locked on to Kara’s and she watched as two identical drops of tears rolled down Kara’s cheeks.

“Why are you apologizing again?” Lena finally said.

“I think you know why.” Kara’s reply was simple.

Lena did know. She figured it out after looking into her best friend’s eyes. She felt her throat start to close up, knowing how much Psi affected Kara but also not knowing what she did to her. A small part of her wanted to hug Kara to reassure her everything was fine, but she remembered what she did for Lillian and she snapped out of it. She didn’t want Kara to be disappointed in her. She didn’t need that extra pain.

“Kara-” Lena wanted to ask Kara to leave but she cut her off.

“Lex escaped.” Kara blurted out.

“What?” Lena’s mind froze, unsure whether or not she heard right.

“Months ago. I went to the prison to check and the warden said he paid off the majority of the system to get away and he’s been in hiding since.” Kara explained. “The DEO couldn’t even track him and still can’t.”

Lena was confused at first. She thought Lillian had used her to get what she wanted to help her beloved son but if what Kara is saying is true, Lillian had something else planned.

“That’s impossible…” She whispered to herself.

“Please believe me.” Kara nearly begged. “I know I was wrong in the past but I’m telling the truth. I just want to help you.”

Their eyes were still locked on to each others’ and it had been nearly five minutes. Lena realized she had been used on a deeper level than she originally thought.

“I-” Lena took a deep breath and finally broke eye contact. “I do believe you.”

Kara was surprised at her response but she was more surprised at Lena’s tone. It didn’t sound as cold as before as if Lena was starting to let her walls down for her again. She smiled internally, hoping Lena was truly starting to let her anger go and begin to forgive her. Kara would be happy if Lena ever forgave her, no matter how long it takes.

“You do?” Kara asked.

Lena let out a small sigh. She finally revealed what she had meant a few days ago when she had accidentally told Kara that she was helping the Luthors again. She explained that Lillian was here hours before Kara was and that she realized Lillian was just there for Lena’s technology. 

Kara’s eyebrows were tightly knit when she listened to Lena explain how she realized Lillian was lying to her on a much deeper level than she had thought. 

“Knowing my mother, it makes sense, I guess.” Lena shrugged. “I was wary of her even from the beginning but I was so…”

Kara nodded quickly, wanting to show she understood. “You didn’t know. No one would blame you for having a terrible family.”

Lena knew Kara was only trying to comfort her but she felt angry that she was so easily manipulated by the Luthors. She hated that love is her weakness.

“We’re going to need to prepare to go against them both.” Lena said. “They’re definitely going to target all of us, whether they’re working together or not.”

Kara agreed but before she could respond, J’onn’s voice came through her coms. 

“Supergirl,” J’onn said. “Is there a TV near you? You need to see this.”

“Yeah…” Kara trailed off, noticing the mounted television in the back of the room and went to turn it on.

She felt Lena’s body heat next to her as they watched the footage of National City going up in flames.

“Is that…” Lena was shocked.

“Now we have four people to fight.” Kara said.


	6. Chapter 6

Kara looked away from the television screen and Lena met her eyes. 

“How are they working together? It’s impossible!” Lena exclaimed.

Kara shook her head. “I don’t know.”

The news footage flickered for a second from Red Daughter’s laser eyes. Ten feet behind her was another woman dressed in all black with a trace of decorative lace and a headpiece. 

“Reign had disappeared for nearly a year after we fought.” Kara started pacing, wanting to fly off to where the fight was.

“You can’t fight them.” Lena warned. “This has to be Lex or Lillian. They have something to do with Reign and Red Daughter attacking the city somehow.”

Lena couldn’t explain why she believed her family was behind this team-up but Kara nodded her head in agreement. Kara had a feeling it was the Luthors but she couldn’t figure out their plan. The Luthors made her skin crawl with hatred, something that doesn’t happen often.

“Reign disappeared literally minutes after our fight. We were pretty even but Brainy couldn’t track her after she fled.” Kara remembered her last encounter with the Worldkiller. She smiled shyly when she realized she was trying to impress Lena but she didn’t seem to notice.

“And Red Daughter hadn’t been seen since she came to LCorp.” Lena added on.

Alex’s voice came through Kara’s coms again. “Supergirl, we have reinforcements. We need you.” She said, struggling to sound like she had everything in control.

Reign was nearly as strong as Supergirl the last time and Red Daughter was an exact replica of the Kryptonian. Kara had trouble fighting both separately and she wasn’t prepared to have a full on battle with them, even if she had backup.

“You’re staying here.” Kara told Lena, her expression serious. “You’re staying out of danger.”

Before Lena could protest, Kara flew out of the building, heading straight to where the fighting was. She hated staying out of danger but she hated watching Kara head straight for it even more. She quickly changed into clothes that she can run in, in case she had to get away from something, and made her way to where the Super Team was now fighting Red Daughter and a Worldkiller.

Kara’s heart rate increased when she noticed Lena heading straight to the fight three blocks away. She saw the small hint of green of Lena’s eyes even in the dark night and instantly knew it was her.

“She just can’t stay safe, can she?” Kara mustered enough strength to punch Red Daughter hard enough that she went flying into the air.

Nia, J’onn, Alex, Maggie, and Brainy were all at the scene along with a few of the top DEO agents. They all knew how dangerous a Red Daughter and Reign combination could be. They were all fighting Reign but they would turn around and throw in a few punches to help out Kara whenever Red Daughter got a hit in. 

Surprisingly, Reign was even stronger than she was before and she swatted Alex and Maggie away with ease. They both hit the ground hard and they didn’t get back up. J’onn left the fight for a few minutes to fly Alex and Maggie back to the DEO to get them safely into the hands of some very professional doctors. During the time J’onn was away, Nia and Brainy took on Reign alone and it was very obviously taking a toll on them. Lena was now a block away and she hid by the corner of a restaurant, watching her friends being tragically defeated. Nia and Brainy managed to fight back enough to not get slammed into the pavement, but it wouldn’t last much longer.

Lena looked around for Kara and Red Daughter but she couldn’t find them anywhere until she saw two figures circling the sky a hundred feet above the ground. Kara and Red Daughter exchanged punches but neither were injured at all. Their heat vision met in the middle and it became too strong for both of them. It exploded and threw them both backwards. Sparks flew everywhere, blinding Lena. By the time Lena blinked away the brightness, they had recovered. Red Daughter was slightly dazed and Kara took that to her advantage. Using her super speed, she opened her left palm and injected a needle into Red Daughter’s neck.

Lena watched as Red Daughter’s eyes rolled back into her head and fell to the concrete. Lena flinched when the ground exploded. She glanced back up to Kara and their eyes met in understanding. While Kara was talking to Alex on the coms back at Lena’s lab, Lena had walked over to a secret compartment on the middle of the floor and took out a small vial of liquidized Kryptonite. She had held up her hand to stop Kara from yelling that she had Kryptonite and motioned to the television screen. Kara understood what she had meant and she realized Lena had kept just the one vial in case Red Daughter visited her again and attacked her. Kara didn’t look too pleased but she knew Lena wasn’t going to hurt her.

At this point, Kara looked over to Reign and realized Nia and Brainy were in deep trouble. Reign had knocked Brainy unconscious, dragging him across the concrete, and she was about to drop him off of a building but Nia appeared to her right and tied her up with her Dreamer rings. Reign turned and used her heat vision to fend off Nia. Dreamer collapsed but J’onn arrived at the right time to scoop her up and bring her and Brainy to the DEO, too. 

Kara was becoming more and more furious, upset that nearly all of her friends were hurt. She heard J’onn pick up Nia and Brainy’s unconscious bodies, but she focused all of her attention on the Worldkiller in front of her. They were both floating ten feet in the air and they slowly moved in a circle, timing the right moment to pounce.

Reign moved first but Kara was prepared and she dodged her attack. She flew in a zig-zag to try to get some distance between them but Reign followed close behind. The Worldkiller punched Kara so hard, she lost her footing mid-air for a second. That second was long enough for Reign to grab her by the cape and drag her through five buildings, slamming through every window. Kara felt every single impact and she flinched, hearing the cracks of the glass, but she couldn’t wrestle free.

Kara finally managed to break free from Reign’s grip and she executed a mean uppercut, sending Reign flying through the atmosphere. If it were a normal person, they would’ve died on impact, but Reign simply dove back to Kara and punched her back. 

The punch felt like an eighteen-wheeler had slammed into her face and Kara hit the pavement. The ground cracked where Kara had been. Reign landed gracefully in front of her as if she was asking for more.

Kara somehow got back to her feet and glared at Reign, her eyes glowing from rage. They exchanged hundreds more punches and kicks hard enough to collapse a building, but Reign and Kara kept going. After a few minutes, it was clear that Kara was starting to feel exhausted. Luckily, J’onn showed up again and had the element of surprise on his side. He floated down slowly and quietly behind Reign before he released his powers on her. Reign yelped, taken aback. J’onn’s powers rippled through her and she screamed in pain. 

Unluckily, J’onn’s surprise attack made the Worldkiller angrier and she lashed out by flying straight at him. This time, J’onn was the one who wasn’t prepared. Reign pushed him through the buildings that she hadn’t destroyed previously, but J’onn wasn’t able to escape like Kara had. 

Satisfied, Reign turned around to continue her fight with Kara but she found the Kryptonian in front of her. Reign activated her heat vision again but Kara dodged it easily. She glanced down into the street for a moment and she saw the DEO agents that were supposed to help huddling in a corner from fear, but she couldn’t find Lena anywhere. 

She felt a little relieved that her best friend was out of danger. She let out a sigh of relief before her face hardened. Kara felt her power surge through her. She spun 360 degrees and clapped her hands together. The clap was a shrill sound and it broke all of the remaining glass within a one mile radius, but more importantly it hurt Reign.

Kara paused to catch her breath after the clap, perfectly aware that it will drain her of a lot of energy, especially after such a long and tiring fight. Something moved and she noticed it out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see what it was and Reign took her distraction as an advantage. 

Reign grabbed Kara by the throat and squeezed hard enough to make Kara gasp desperately for air. Her face had been cut and bruised from how hard she had been punched. She tried to wriggle free from Reign’s grip but she was too strong. 

“I  _ shall  _ rule Earth.” Reign’s voice echoed as if three people were talking. She held up her free fist and pounded Kara’s face over and over. Kara slumped, wanting to give up. Her head snapped back from the force and she felt blood trickling down her face. The yellow sun had been long gone and Kara’s healing powers were gone along with it.

Lena was frantically trying to find Kara and Reign. She had lost them in the chaos. She ran up and down the surrounding streets before she saw a figure with her hand gripping another’s neck. Lena stopped herself from being hopeful that Kara was the one who was winning the fight. She nervously stepped closer to see who was who.

Her heart nearly stopped when she realized Reign had Kara by the neck and she nearly cried when she saw how badly Kara was hurt. She took in all of her cuts and bruises and she shivered, never having seen Kara bleed before. 

“Supergirl…” She whispered and she silently prayed to every single god that she knew, even though she wasn’t religious. She felt a tug in her chest and she clutched it as if she was trying to protect it.

Reign had been floating upwards slowly, aiming for the tall building in front of her. She stared Supergirl in the eyes as if she had a personal grudge against her and she smiled as she watched Kara close her eyes, defeated.

Lena watched their ascent and stepped even closer. The Worldkiller had dropped Kara off at the roof of the skyscraper and she was standing over her limp body. 

“This is my destiny, Kryptonian.” The Worldkiller was saying to Kara. “You cannot stop me. No one can.”

Kara had drained nearly all of her energy and so she could only listen to Reign rant on and on. 

“I was created for this very purpose and I will not fail my ancestors. My kind will soon grow and take over all of humanity. You will serve me before I will ever serve you.” Reign continued, her voice becoming more threatening by the second.

All Kara could muster was a groan and Reign smiled at the powerless alien at her feet.

“You are weak and pathetic, Kryptonian. The Worldkillers will have unlimited power and we will be invincible.” She mocked.

Reign picked up a now unconscious Kara with one hand as if she were picking up a small animal and walked over to the edge of the building.

Lena screamed as she watched Reign drop her best friend seventy stories.

The ground shook when Kara made impact with it and the concrete separated, creating a crater with Kara in the center. Lena looked up at the roof but Reign was gone. Dozens of people began to emerge from the shadows and gathered around the fallen hero but Lena was able to shove her way through the crowd to get to her.

Tears were streaming down her face and she felt her heart rate spike from fear that Kara was dead. She brushed her hand against Kara’s bleeding face and she wiped away some of her tears before she put her head on Kara’s chest. She whimpered when she couldn’t find a heartbeat and she slumped against her best friend. Lena stayed like that for seconds, hoping to hear something, but it felt like eternity. She let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding when she finally heard a faint thump.

The DEO agents that were there from the beginning tried to pull Lena away but she refused to leave her side until she realized Kara needed their medical attention more than her at the moment. She sniffled as she got up and she wiped her cheeks, smearing her face with Kara’s blood. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agentcorp is my brotp.

“I’m coming with you.” Lena sounded so desperate that the DEO agents agreed without questioning her.

The ride back to the DEO headquarters was the most stressful thing Lena had ever dealt with in her life. She wasn’t sure what was happening and the bustling about of the agents made her even more nervous. Half of those agents were medical professionals, which explained why they didn’t even try to be involved with the fight against Red Daughter and Reign.

Lena was staring at Kara’s bloody face the entire ride, trying to tune out the medical terms the agents were sprouting. All she let herself hear was “stable”.

The DEO’s ambulance suddenly stopped and she rushed out of the vehicle with the agents behind her, pushing Kara’s gurney into the sick ward. 

Lena heard a loud shuffling of feet and she pulled her attention away from Kara and turned to see Alex and half of the DEO behind her. She was supposed to be resting but she overheard the dispatch call that mentioned how badly her younger sister was injured and she forced her way out of medical.

Alex Danvers took one look at her sister’s condition and immediately started giving orders. Kara had just become unstable and they rushed her to a room with yellow sun light treatment. Lena felt lightheaded but she followed anyway.

“She needs more light.” Alex demanded, her expression hard. Her voice was stern but her eyes were wide with fear.

The doctors increased the intensity of the lights and injected small amounts of drugs into Kara’s system to help her body recover as if she was human. 

Lena stood in the corner and was motionless for two hours. During that time, the doctors shuffled in and out to check on Kara’s state. The rest of the team, including Alex, came in a few times to check on Kara and on Lena to make sure she was okay, but Lena wasn’t paying attention. She remembered nodding a couple of times in response to their questions but she couldn’t think of what they were. Her mind was only on Kara but the others must have realized she was in shock because Lena found herself in her own medical room.

“Lena?” Alex asked softly.

She had noticed Lena standing as still as a statue for a while but she was so worried about her sister that she hadn’t realized that Lena was traumatized, too. Alex led her carefully to a room with the help of Nia and she had done a quick check up on her to make sure she was physically okay. Her only conclusion was that Lena was still in shock from the events and she was about to call in the doctors when Lena stopped her.

“I-I’m okay.” Her voice was shaking but she seemed to be opening up.

“Lena, you’re not. You’re in shock.” Alex tried to convince her. “You need a doctor.”

“No, really, I’m fine.” Lena sounded more stable. “I’ve had my share of traumatizing experiences and I snap out of my shock quickly. Usually.”

Alex opened her mouth to speak but Lena gave her a look.

“Alex, I’m okay. I just need to rest a while.” Lena assured her. 

She leaned back onto the bed and was surprised to feel the bed squeak.

“What are you doing?” Lena looked up at Alex.

She had climbed into the bed with Lena and was about to lay down next to her.

“I’m not about to leave you with that mind of yours.” Alex said, her tone slightly teasing. She was serious about staying with Lena, though. She had missed her friend and she knew her watching Kara nearly die was not something that helped her emotional or mental state. Lena told the truth when she said she had her fair share of traumatic experiences and Alex knew better than to let her be by herself. She knew her company would distract Lena from her thoughts, even for a while.

All Lena could do was give Alex a soft smile and she leaned her head against Alex’s.

“She’s going to be fine.” Alex tried to convince them both.

“I know.” Lena whispered. 

They stayed silent for a while.

“I forgave her, you know.” Lena finally said. “I guess I was never that mad at her. I was more angry at the situation, I think.”

Alex nodded, urging her to continue. She wasn’t used to Lena opening up to her but she’s glad Lena’s doing it now.

“I despise being betrayed and lied to. I knew how much damage it could do and when she, of all people, did exactly that, I was crushed. But I also understood why she did it. I guess I was more upset that she did have those reasons to keep it from me because I thought it meant I wasn’t enough for her to trust me.” Lena went on.

“She does trust you. We all do.” Alex said softly.

“I know that. I… forgot but I remember now.” She sounded apologetic. “I was just so terrified that I had let in someone so easily just for them to hurt me.”

Alex put her arm around her, letting Lena know that she had nothing to apologize for and that they were still going to be there for her no matter what. 

Lena seemed to understand. “Thank you.” She whispered.

“We’re not ready to fight her again!” Nia exclaimed.

“She’s right. We don’t have Supergirl.” Maggie agreed. She had taken the week off to help out at the DEO and it was deeply appreciated with Supergirl still in recovery.

Red Daughter had reappeared less than a minute ago on the news. J’onn told the rest of the team in hopes of capturing her and defeating her once and for all.

“She’s injured. Badly.” Brainy piped up.

“What?” Nia asked for a clarification.

“Supergirl injected her with a good amount of Kryptonite and it made her vulnerable for at least a day.” He explained. “She got hurt badly after the injection, which most likely bruised her or had broken a bone or two. She’s still injured and you can notice that if you look closely. She’s limping.”

Brainy was right. Red Daughter seemed less energetic than the other times they had seen her.

“We need to stop her once and for all.” J’onn said.

“Okay, you’re right.” Maggie admitted. “But why is she here in the first place? Didn’t someone say she had something to do with the Luthors?”

“And where’s Reign?” Nia added.

“It could be a trap.” Brainy said. “But the possibility of that is much lower considering how vulnerable she is right now. Still, I have no clue why she is here and why Reign is not.”

It wasn’t often that the twelfth-level intellect was stumped and it unnerved the team but they knew they had to face Red Daughter again in hopes of her never appearing in the future.

“I’m going to stay back.” Alex stepped backwards, motioning to the medical ward. “But call if you need backup.”

Alex gave her girlfriend, Maggie, a quick kiss on the cheek before she headed back to the room Kara was resting in. She knocked on the door, careful not to spook Lena.

“You need to sleep.” Alex lectured her. “You’ve been sitting here for hours.” 

“I’m fine,” Lena said. “She’s not awake yet.”

The drugs the doctors had injected into her a day ago put Kara in a medically induced coma so her body could recover faster from the yellow sun light that was shining on her entire body. She usually would’ve recovered by herself and at a much faster rate but her fight with Reign and Red Daughter were not the usual.

“She’s probably going to be here for another couple of days. You need to rest.” Alex pushed. Even she hadn’t been in Kara’s room this often for this long.

“Later.” Lena replied. “I promise.”

“Lena, you need to tell her.” Alex said after a moment of comfortable silence. She saw Lena flinch and she immediately regretted saying anything.

“Tell her…?” Lena tried to pretend like she didn’t know what Alex was trying to say. Lena’s attraction for Kara was very secretive, at least to her, but she wasn’t surprised that Alex had caught on over the years. Still, she never expected Alex to confront her about it. It embarrassed her in a different way.

“Look, at this point you should know how a secret can ruin your relationship with Kara.” Alex decided to keep going. “It’s obviously your decision to make but I don’t want your relationship to hang by a thread again because you guys keep keeping things from each other.”

Lena looked up and met her eyes. Then, she walked over to Kara’s bed and gently brushed the back of her hand across Kara’s face. The cuts and bruises were all gone.

She backed away and let out a small breath. “I’ll go get that rest now.”

When the rest of the Super Team arrived at the scene, they were surprised. Nia had her Dreamer ropes in hand, ready to reel in Red Daughter. J’onn was in mid-air, ready to strike. Maggie and Brainy stood slightly to the side, both unsure of how to fight a replica of a Kryptonian. But Red Daughter put her hands up in surrender. 

Nia, J’onn, and Maggie all exchanged looks of confusion but Brainy only frowned and walked up to Red Daughter. He somehow knew she was here to cooperate.

“Speak, Red Daughter.” He demanded.

She tried to explain it the best she could with a rough Russian accent, but Brainy seemed to understand exactly what she was talking about. Red Daughter told him how she had come into existence from what Lex had told her and she started to explain what she knew about Lex’s plan.

“Alex only told me about working with his mother.” Red Daughter apologized. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what they are doing.”

Brainy nodded and turned around. Red Daughter’s hands were still in the air and she was waiting for what he would do. Nia, J’onn, and Maggie were still standing behind him, even more confused than before on why Red Daughter had come to them so peacefully.

“Why are you surrendering?” Brainy asked for everyone.

Red Daughter seemed to be embarrassed, but she spoke. “I see the real Kara. I see your Alex. I see Lena. Lena and your Kara is… special. I see that now. I am sorry.”

Everyone took in her words, putting down their weapons. Brainy turned and walked past his friends slowly, whispering to them to take her into custody. 

When they arrived back at the DEO with Red Daughter in cuffs and not a single scratch on any of them, they were bombarded with questions by Alex, who had left Lena looking after Kara.

“She just let you take her?” Alex asked. “It has to be a trap.”

“Brainy thinks it’s not a trap.” Nia said defensively. “He must’ve sensed something about her. I don’t trust her but I do trust Brainy.”

Alex eyed Nia carefully, knowing fully well that Nia was completely biased about him, but she agreed. She trusted Brainy, too. “Let’s hope he’s not wrong.” She said.

“She’s secure.” An agent walked by and let Alex know but his expression was full of concern.

Alex thanked him and walked over to Brainy.

“Look, it doesn’t add up. Say you’re right about Red Daughter switching sides, but why would she?” Alex couldn’t make sense of the situation. “She’d been trained by Lex since the day she was split from Supergirl. And it doesn’t make sense that Reign would team up with her and Lex. She’s a damn Worldkiller, she doesn’t need the Luthors.”

He explained to her why Red Daughter surrendered to them, but he admitted that he didn’t know how Reign was connected to her and the Luthors. Brainy and Alex went back and forth, exchanging ideas and questions, for another hour. Finally, Brainy paused.

“Wait.” He said. “Wait, wait, wait.”

“What?” Alex asked.

Maggie had gone to check on Lena and Kara minutes ago, but Nia and J’onn looked up in 

anticipation, having heard their entire conversation.

“Think about it.” Brainy stood up, his voice an octave higher. “Who is the Worldkiller?”

“Reign?” Alex wasn’t following.

“No, no. I mean who is she?”  Brainy’s hands were waving in the air and it seemed to be

the only thing that was helping him contain his own excitement.

“Lex and Lillian had to have known her human identity.” Alex realized.

“Yes!” Brainy shouted. “They must have done something or made something to control the Worldkiller side of whoever Reign is.”

Only one thing popped into all of their minds at the same time: he was right. There was no other explanation as to why a Worldkiller would voluntarily side with the Luthors. She didn’t need them.


	8. Chapter 8

Lena and Alex were pacing back and forth in Kara’s recovery room and trying to convince the other that Kara will recover soon. She had been in recovery longer than she should’ve. Maggie was the only one in the room who was calm and collected but she didn’t interrupt Lena and Alex’s nervous rants.

“Lena?” A small voice whispered behind them. “Alex…”

They both whipped around and rushed to the bed. Kara had just woken up and she looked horrible, even for someone who had been in a medically induced coma for days. Alex shushed her younger sister, trying to reassure her, but Kara broke down in tears.

Lena grabbed her hand but said nothing. She hated seeing her cry. 

Maggie was still standing a good distance away from Kara, knowing she would probably only want her best friend and her sister with her for now. She was surprised when Kara slowly pushed Alex away.

“I-I’m sorry.” Kara sobbed. “It’s too much.”

Alex frowned in concern. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll be right outside if you need us.”

She motioned to Lena and Maggie to follow her out but Kara spoke up.

“Um, Lena,” She said hesitantly. “Can you…”

Lena turned around in surprise. She exchanged a look with Alex but Alex only nodded. 

Kara and Lena waited for Maggie and Alex to leave before either of them moved. Lena rushed back to Kara’s bed and awkwardly stood next to it, waiting for Kara to talk first. In the moment of silence, she noticed Kara’s expression. It was full of guilt and disappointment. She had been so drained of energy that Kara’s eyes seemed more dull and grey than blue.

Deciding that waiting for Kara to speak first was a dumb idea, Lena brought up the night she passed out drunk. “It was you wasn’t it?” She said softly.

Kara looked up at her and her eyebrows came together in confusion. “Wha-”

“The night at the bar.” Lena clarified. “You were the one who came and brought me home.”

Kara felt her face flush and she hoped Lena didn’t notice. “How’d you figure it out?”

“I didn’t at first but I figured you were the only one who  _ would  _ do that.” Lena replied.

Kara’s expression softened at her light tone. “And you didn’t say anything? You could’ve at least gave me a hug to thank me.”

“To be fair, I was still mad at you.” Lena’s tone became more serious. “Kara, I understand now. I truly do.”

Kara looked surprised. “You do?”

Lena nodded. “I’m so sorry I didn’t try to accept your apology earlier. I don’t think I was ready to. I just thought you would never lie to me and I took it harder than I should’ve when I found out you did.”

“I know how much you trusted me. I’m so sorry I ignored it by not telling you such a big secret.” Kara apologized herself. “I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me. You mean too much to me. You’re such a big part of my life and I guess I just didn’t want it to go away. I’m sorry I was so selfish.”

Lena laughed. “Kara, you’re Supergirl. You’re National City’s hero. There is not a single cell of selfishness in you.”

Kara smiled at the compliment and she ran her fingers through her curly blond hair.

“I thought I was only your hero.” Kara blurted out and her cheeks immediately felt hot.

Lena locked eyes with her. “Kara Danvers is and will  _ always  _ be my hero.”

Kara didn’t break the eye contact and she felt her heart flutter. Her breath caught in her throat when she heard Lena’s heart beat faster and faster.

Maggie ran into the room, her hair a cute mess, and she stopped to catch her breath.

“Um.” She said awkwardly. “We’re in big trouble.”

Lena and Kara both jumped back and they didn’t really realize what Maggie had said until the lights flickered.

“What’s happening?” Kara got up from her bed. 

Her skin glowed with power and strength. She avoided eye contact with Lena, very aware that she was still flustered, and stared intently at Maggie instead.

“Reign just appeared. The building is going to collapse if we don’t stop her.” Maggie didn’t wait for a response and ran out of the room to find the rest of the team to help out.

Kara glanced back at Lena in a panic. 

“Do I even have to bother telling you to go somewhere safe?” Kara asked.

“Nope.” Lena said and followed Maggie, leaving Kara speechless.

She snapped out of it and sprinted after her. She found the entire team in the middle of the DEO and Nia quickly filled her in about what happened with Red Daughter. Reign was nowhere to be found but the ground shook more and more after each minute.

“She surrendered?” Kara asked in disbelief. She had thought Red Daughter deserved better than to have Lex and Lillian manipulate her but she never thought she would actually turn against them. It all sounded weirdly suspicious but she accepted it anyway. There wasn’t time to stress over another threat when one was destroying the DEO headquarters.

Before anyone could reply, the lights flickered off for a minute before suddenly coming back on. When everyone looked up, they noticed the Worldkiller holding two male agents by the throat. She threw them both out of a window that was at least a hundred feet away. Alex ran to the window, desperately hoping that her agents survived the fall.

The fight against Reign was easier this time with Red Daughter out of the picture and the entire DEO on their side. All of the heroes attacked Reign at the same time, quickly weakening her. 

Lena and Brainy were the only ones who stayed in the shadows, both unsure of how to help. After watching Reign throw Nia and J’onn on the ground, she grabbed Brainy by the arm and told him to follow her.

They ran through the main floor of the building, dodging debris and falling ceiling lights. She looked back at Kara just to see how she was doing and she nearly stumbled when she heard a blaring sound ring throughout the building. It was the prisoner escape alarm. A streak of red and black flew by her quickly and she realized Red Daughter was the one who had escaped.

Lena froze in shock for a second, scared that Red Daughter had somehow escaped her cell to help Reign. Brainy tugged on her arm, trying to snap her out of it. She reluctantly followed, her eyes still fixed on the fight, and was shocked when Red Daughter charged at Reign.

“Lena!” Brainy warned and he flinched when a chunk of the ceiling fell, narrowly missing his foot.

She turned to look at him and remembered what she was planning. Lena pushed down her fear and led Brainy to the DEO lab. She spent enough time there when she was on a mission with the Super Team to know where everything was.

Brainy and Lena nearly lost their balance when the ground shook again.

“I’d like an explanation on why you dragged me away,” Brainy said. “Preferably before we die.”

Lena ignored his attempt at a joke. “I found a way to stop Reign.”

Brainy looked disappointed in himself. “You did?”

“I’m pretty smart, too.” Lena tried not to roll her eyes. “After we realized she had a human identity, I went over my research about Red Daughter while I was waiting for Kara to wake up.”

“ _ I _ realized.” Brainy corrected. “But go on.”

“Anyway, Red Daughter was a new personality that split from Kara when she touched Harun-el.”

“So,” Brainy caught on. “If we find a way to reverse that process we could possibly bring back the human version of Reign and hopefully destroy the Worldkiller.”

“Exactly.” Lena’s eyes lit up, excited that he understood her. “We just need to find out as much as we can and hope it’s enough to basically reverse engineer it.”

“Basically.” Brainy agreed. 

Kara noticed Lena and Brainy running away from the big fight and she was relieved that Lena had finally come to her senses and stayed safe. She suddenly felt a breeze to her left and she was shocked to see Red Daughter smiling at her as if they had been friends from the start. She charged at Reign almost immediately and Kara followed, her heat vision engaged nearly to the max. 

Kara found herself thinking about Lena, safe wherever she was, and got distracted, allowing Reign to knock her to the wall on the opposite side of the large room. 

Groaning in pain, she got to her knees and she noticed a hand.

“Come on, Supergirl.” Nia said.

Kara grabbed it and thanked her before taking a deep breath. She usually never had so much trouble staying focused in a fight, especially in one that was so important. 

Dreamer ran off, helping J’onn attack Reign’s left side. Red Daughter was exchanging heat vision attacks with her, trying to distract her from everyone else. Alex and Maggie had been using human weapons and tried to injure Reign on her right, but Kara instantly knew they needed help.

“Took you long enough!” Maggie shouted at Kara.

“Shut up, Sawyer.” Alex gave her girlfriend a look. “Focus on shooting your pathetic pistol.”

Kara ignored their little banter and released a big breath. Her super breath threw Reign through the air but she quickly recovered. Still, she was caught by surprise. 

“Everyone, take cover!” Kara screamed at her friends.

They reluctantly left the fight and dove under tables or behind walls but they didn’t question her.

Kara and Red Daughter exchanged a look and she somehow understood what Kara was planning. Before Reign could charge at them, they both spun 360 degrees and slammed their hands together. 

The Worldkiller fell to her knees and screamed in pain. One super clap would’ve devastated an entire building but two nearly took out every structure within a block. Everyone in the DEO heard the loud bang and yelled out in pain.

Kara used her super speed to cuff Reign and then tried to get as many people out of the building as possible before the whole thing collapsed on them. Looking around in a panic, she realized Lena was nowhere to be seen.

“Lena!” Kara yelled. She flew around the DEO until she noticed two figures in the lab, distractedly hard at work.

“Lena!” She repeated and it finally got Lena’s attention.

Lena turned in shock and dropped whatever she was holding. Brainy caught the items in midair and muttered to himself, saying she should be more careful with lab equipment. She ignored him, focusing on Kara instead. Her safety was more important to her.

“Kara!” Lena rushed to her best friend. “You’re okay!”

Kara grew speechless when Lena traced a small cut on her forehead with her pinky.

“I’m fine.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “But you guys need to get out of here. The DEO is about to come down on us.”

Lena looked at Brainy who was still hunched over the table and she glanced at the ceiling. The walls made a terrifying sound but she shook her head. “We need to finish this.” She said.

“Lena, I know you love lab work but this is not the time.” Kara tugged on her sleeve.

“No, we’re trying to extract the Worldkiller from the body.” Lena explained her and Brainy’s research from the last hour and motioned to what they have so far.

“I’m nearly finished with it.” Brainy glanced up briefly at them. 

“Well, hurry! We don’t have much time.” Kara warned.

Lena lost her balance when the ground shook again and Kara grabbed her by the waist. Debris from the cracked ceiling kept falling down and Kara shielded Lena’s body with hers.

“Done!” Brainy jumped out. “I’m done!”

Kara grabbed Lena in her left arm and held onto Brainy with her right and flew out of the building a second before everything fell down on where they had just been standing.

Alex ran to the three of them, yelling incomprehensible words, clearly upset but glad they were all alive. “What took you so long? Where were you?” She demanded.

“In the lab.” Lena said simply. She noticed the Worldkiller in handcuffs on the floor in front of dozens of DEO agents and J’onn. She held out her hand to Brainy and he gave her the vial without question. Everyone watched as she slowly walked to the unconscious Worldkiller and knelt down next to her.

Kara was watching her attentively, motioning to the rest of the Super Team to let Lena do whatever she needed to do.

Lena looked a little scared, unsure if the liquid in the vial would do what she wanted. She placed her palm on Reign’s forehead, feeling the little beads of sweat. “I hope you’re still in there.” She whispered.

During her research, she learned that if the liquid in the vial worked, Reign could separate from the mystery woman and die, or Reign and the woman would die together. She and Brainy never found a solid conclusion but they agreed that they would risk it anyway. They had debated about this for a long time, knowing it wasn’t fair to the unknown woman either way, but they didn’t have a choice.

She cleared her throat even though she wasn’t going to say anything. Lena held up the small vial of clear liquid and stuck the little needle into Reign’s right shoulder. Everyone paused, waiting for something to happen.

Lena’s face fell, discouraged, and sat down. But after a minute, they all watched as Reign’s power seeped from the body. The black mist cleared almost instantly and everyone saw the human side of the Worldkiller for the first time.

The woman was in her mid-thirties with brown hair and thin limbs. The color came back to her lips but other than that, she seemed lifeless.

The agents erupted in whispers but they quieted down when Lena shushed them. Her eyes were wide and she raised her hand up to stop anyone from speaking again. She could’ve sworn she heard the woman begin to stir.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn’t already know, this is a slow burn.

Kara was in as much shock as the next person but she was distracted when she noticed a grim looking Red Daughter standing a block away, ignored by everyone else. Red Daughter’s face was scrunched as if she was in pain and she nearly fell over, groaning.

Kara rushed to her side without hesitation. 

“No, no, no.” She whispered when she struggled to hear Red Daughter’s heart beat. She knew she shouldn’t trust Lex or his associates but she felt guilty she ever doubted her anyways. Kara fought back tears when she thought back on how Lex and Lillian had used Red Daughter and brainwashed her into helping them when she never wanted any of that.

“Ho-how? How are you bleeding?” Kara noticed Red Daughter was clutching her side.

She looked around frantically to ask for help but no one seemed to notice. She knew Red Daughter couldn’t be saved if she was losing so much blood so quickly but she desperately wanted to.

“Supergirl.” Red Daughter said softly. “Thank you.”

Kara had no idea why she was thanking her when she was dying. She shook her head and when she looked into her eyes, she remembered. During the fight with Reign, Red Daughter and Kara had been the only ones who noticed a glowing green rock. When the Worldkiller took aim at Kara and threw it at a hundred miles per hour, Red Daughter had pushed Kara to the side and she had been hit instead. Kara was so taken aback that she had just completely forgotten about it until now.

Red Daughter’s breath was getting shallower by the minute. Kara pressed her hands on her wound, hoping to slow the blood flow but it continued to gush out. 

“I’m sorry.” Kara sniffled. “I’m so sorry.”

Red Daughter didn’t seem mad at all. It was as if she understood the good she had done when she turned her back on the Luthors. It was as if she knew Kara had forgiven her for everything she had done.

She opened her mouth as if she was about to accept Kara’s apology for closure but she didn’t have enough energy to move or talk.

Kara wiped her wet cheeks with her hand. She didn’t know why she was crying so much for someone that she had deemed her enemy the day before but she suddenly felt a stronger connection between them. 

“Thank you. Thank you for saving me.” Kara said and watched as Red Daughter took in her words and smiled before taking her last breath.

At this point, everyone from the DEO was looking at her. She couldn’t help but glare at the ones standing closest to her, wanting to blame Red Daughter’s death on someone else, but she realized it was an honorable death that had saved her own life. Finally, she stood up to let them take her lifeless body away. 

She walked back to Lena, who was still kneeling beside the mystery woman. She had just fully woken up and was terrified, having no idea what had just happened. Alex jumped when Kara put her hand on her shoulder. She didn’t even notice her sister was gone.

Alex looked at her, about to ask where she had been, and saw her dark expression. She stopped herself and patted her sister’s hand instead. She then slowly approached Lena and the mystery woman.

“Lena, we need to do a standard checkup on her. She needs medical attention after all that.” Alex whispered into her ear, making sure the traumatized woman in front of her couldn’t hear.

Lena nodded and somehow managed to convince the woman to follow her to a couple of doctors that were standing at the corner of the street. The woman just stared at her with wide eyes and walked as if she was in a trance.

Alex followed them and stood by as the professionals did a simple check up to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Surprisingly, she wasn’t even bruised. 

Some National City civilians stared at the destroyed building that used to be the DEO but they were ushered out of the way by some DEO agents that acted like they were the police department. 

“Alex.” J’onn came up to her. “We need to get everyone safely to another location.”

Alex sighed. They had left the other DEO facility, located in a desert miles away, to move to National City to be closer to all of the crime. 

“That’s going to be difficult.” She finally said.

“Well, you never seem to find giving direct orders difficult.” J’onn teased.

Smiling, she walked back to the large crowd of the agents that had survived Reign’s attack. She frantically pointed and yelled at every single one of them, giving commands so everyone could get to the desert facility safely.

The rest of the team listened to Alex and followed her directions. Before Kara took off to the old-new headquarters, she went to look for Lena. She noticed her talking to one of the top agents, telling her to get the woman to the medical ward safely. The agent followed orders as if Lena was her commanding officer.

“Lena.” Kara smiled.

“Oh, hi.” Lena returned the smile. “I was just about to look for you.”

Kara blushed. “You were?”

“Um, yeah.” Lena cleared her throat. “I just wanted to check up on you. You seemed distraught earlier.”

“You noticed?”

“I saw you walk away but I was busy with her so I couldn’t check on you then. Sorry.” Lena motioned with her hands awkwardly.

Kara was surprised she had noticed her. The corners of her mouth tugged up into a wider smile but it slowly faded when she started to explain what had happened.

“I’m sorry.” Lena’s face scrunched up as she thought about what to say. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all made that mistake.”

Kara sighed. She knew that but she felt better hearing it come out of Lena’s mouth. 

“Yeah.” She murmured in response. “Hey, you want a ride? No charge.”

Lena smiled teasingly. “Just don’t go too fast.”

She gripped onto Kara tightly at first even though Kara promised her she would take her time. After a while, she released her grip and only had one arm over Kara’s shoulder. She trusted Kara with her life, always.

Kara flew steadily, barely above fifty miles an hour, and tried to ignore her clammy hands. Holding Lena so close to her made her breath quicken and she avoided talking to Lena so she wouldn’t notice. 

Lena shifted her head a little and rested it on the crook of Kara’s neck. Her heart skipped a beat when she felt Kara take in a sharp breath.

Kara slowed down a little bit at a time so Lena wouldn’t notice, hoping she could spend more time with Lena buried in her neck. It nearly took them a full two hours to get to the desert facility even though it could’ve taken them less than ten minutes.

They felt eyes on them when they landed but they only noticed Alex’s. 

“That took unnecessarily long.” Alex glared at them. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but you need to see this.” A doctor working on the mystery woman shuffled next to Alex.

Kara and Lena learned that the doctors and Alex had been finishing up their checkup and tests on the woman. Alex mentioned that she hadn’t said anything since they arrived and she didn’t push her in case it was too overwhelming. The doctor chimed in, explaining that while Alex had left the room to greet Lena and Kara, they found a transparent device in her eyes.

“A device?” Lena asked as they filed into the medical ward.

The doctor nodded. “We have no idea what it could be or what it does. We’re not exactly scientists.”

Kara knocked softly on the door and she opened it when she heard a quiet response. The woman was in a hospital gown, her expression now flat, and her skin paler than it should’ve been. Doctors scurried in and out with medical devices and machines, trying to execute as many tests as possible to confirm she had not been affected by her split identity at all.

“Guys, can you finish this up later?” Kara told the doctors, knowing how overwhelmed the woman had to have been. “Thanks.”

She wondered if she should sit down on the chair next to the bed so she wouldn’t seem intimidating but she decided to stand after she did an awkward fidget. She didn’t want to bring up the device in her eyes, yet, either.

"Hi!” Kara held out her hand. “I’m Supergirl.”

The woman took it cautiously and shook it. She glanced at Alex and Lena in the background.

“Don’t worry, they don’t bite.” Kara said, smiling comfortingly.

She swallowed and nodded shyly. 

“Sorry. I’m Sam.” Sam finally introduced herself. “Samantha Arias.”

“Sam, I hate to pester you with questions.” Alex stepped up. “But do you have any idea about what had happened?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know.” Sam shook her head. “What’s today’s date?”

Alex, Lena, and Kara exchanged a worried look.

Kara told her and Sam looked terrified.

“I- what? It-” Sam stuttered, her mouth hanging open.

“Sam, are you okay?” Lena asked.

“I don’t remember anything after March.” Her voice quavered. “I remember leaving my friend’s housewarming party and then… nothing. That’s my last memory. I can’t remember anything else.”

It had been many months since March. It was horrifying that Sam had blacked out for so long and had no recollection of anything at all.

Kara glanced at Lena, hoping the only scientist in the room understood what had happened to her but all she did was shake her head. Her clueless expression wasn’t reassuring, either.

“I’m sorry.” Kara apologized. “You know what? You should rest. You’ve helped us enough for now. We’ll check up on you later, okay?”

Sam nodded, and it was obvious that she was relieved. At least someone was there to help her through whatever it is she’s going through. She had never been so scared in her entire life. She was completely clueless on what happened in the last couple of months and the fact that she woke up in a chaotic environment didn’t help.

Kara led her sister and Lena outside with an arm on each waist. 

“Do you have any idea about…?” Alex looked at Lena, hoping her genius brain had figured it out.

“I can’t be sure,” Lena said. “But I think there are only two possible explanations. Either Lex did something to her or Reign taking over her body completely blacked her human side out.”

“How can we prove any of it?” Kara asked. “We need to help her. She’s alone and scared.”

“We can only wait for her to be ready for more questions and tests. Every test had come back clean. The only clue we have is the device in her eyes.” Alex said.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right. The device is the only clue.” Lena’s eyes were wide. “I’m almost certain that was Lex or Lillian, or even both of them. If I’m right, the device was probably used to control Reign.”

Alex nodded, understanding what Lena was trying to say. “That could explain why she was working with Red Daughter for a while.” She added. 

“Exactly.” Lena said.

“But what about the black out?” Kara asked. “It had been months.”

“That is harder to explain.” Lena thought out loud. “Either Reign had taken nearly 100% control over the body, which is enough to block out a whole consciousness, or Lex’s device had a side effect.”

Alex and Kara nodded, accepting Lena’s theories. It made sense but it still wasn’t clear why Lex had done what he had done. Why use Reign?

“We still need to find my brother.” Lena’s voice sounded more bitter. “Assuming he found a way to control two powerful beings, there’s no way to tell what he’s going to do next.”

“Brainy had been working on finding him and Lillian since we realized he wasn’t in prison anymore.” Alex reminded her. “There’s no trace of them anywhere.”

“They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air.” Kara threw her arms up in frustration. “We don’t even know if they’re hiding somewhere together. We only know their plans overlapped with each other. What if they’re not even working together?”

Lena tapped her fingers on her wrist in deep thought.

“I’m certain they’re working together. I don’t know if they're in hiding together but there is no way they’re not working together.” She said. “Lex and Lillian always plan every detail so specifically. They don’t use each for just one part of a plan. If they work together, they will finish executing the plan together. They always want the same thing.”

“And that is?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

“To destroy as many people as possible.” Lena replied as if it was a normal family tradition.

Kara was about to comment on that but she was interrupted when a high pitched scream rang throughout the entire floor of the building. All three of them ran into Sam’s room and found her on the floor by the bed, clutching her head in pain. Tears sprang in her eyes and all of her veins were popping out from the pressure.

“Sam!” Kara yelled, dropping to her knees next to her.

Alex and Lena followed suit. Sam screamed over and over for minutes until her voice cracked and her throat bled. Still, she grabbed onto her head as if her life depended on it. She finally started to calm down and she looked up at them with a wild look in her eyes. 

Sam’s eyes suddenly glowed a bright red for a second before returning to normal and her eyes glazed over before she collapsed into Kara’s arms.


	10. Chapter 10

Kara picked Sam up and put her back onto the bed while Alex called for the doctors again. They were all worried. They all knew how far Lex and Lillian were willing to go just to get what they wanted but they had no idea exactly how far they went with Sam. Lex and Lillian manipulating Red Daughter only seemed like the half of it.

Alex, Lena, and Kara walked out of the room to give the professionals some space and Kara gathered everyone together.

“Our priority is to find and capture Lex and Lillian Luthor.” Kara announced. “They need to be stopped before they can hurt anyone else.”

Alex continued. “Agent Jackson, Agent Zhang, Agent Rivera, Agent Ng, and Agent Stark will be the commanding officers for this mission. They will be in charge of finding Lex and Lillian. Each of you will choose four others to create five teams of five. Everyone else, you may continue with your previous work unless you are specifically requested by a commanding officer or a hero for help.”

Maggie appeared behind them. “Pretty badass.” She smiled at her girlfriend and poked her.

Alex laughed and poked her back. “Get on with it, Sawyers.”

Maggie winked at her before leaving the room.

“Well, does anyone have a plan on where to start?” Kara asked.

“We should begin where they were last seen. Lillian disappeared after she took the technology I made her so I don’t know about her, but Lex was in prison before he vanished.” Lena answered.

“Before a bunch of idiots in power helped him vanish, you mean.” Kara said bitterly. She hated corrupt people in power almost as much as Lex and Lillian.

“So let’s go back to the prison.” Alex tugged on Kara’s and Lena’s sleeves.

“Woah, wait a second.” Lena pulled back a little. “You’re not coming with me.”

Kara frowned. “Lena, you can’t be serious.”

“Yeah, you can’t go there by yourself.” Alex was surprised Lena would even try to talk them out of it. “We have nothing else to do right now, anyway.”

Kara and Alex looked at her expectedly and Lena sighed. She didn’t really know why she didn’t want them to go with her. Maybe she hated the idea that she was angry at Lex for being her brother but she didn’t have a solid excuse so she finally let up.

“You three are going back to Lex’s prison to look for clues?” Brainy was about to walk past them but stopped for a confirmation. 

“How did you know that?” Kara asked, surprised.

Brainy had just gotten there. There was no way he had overheard them. As far as she knew, he didn’t have super hearing.

He just shrugged. “I would’ve done the same. It makes sense to go back to the last place he was seen.”

Kara and Lena exchanged a smile. Kara noticed Lena’s eyes shine and her own smile grew wider.

Alex turned away from them. “Just continue your search for them. We need all the help we can get.” She told Brainy and he nodded firmly.

When the trio finally got to the prison, it had been nearly three hours. Kara had wanted to fly Lena and Alex straight to National City with her super speed but they both refused.

“I had enough flying for today.” Lena had said.

Alex agreed. “I had enough flying for the year.”

Kara rolled her eyes. She found Alex dramatic every time she made an excuse to not be carried and flown.

This time, though, they didn’t have to threaten the warden. He took one look at them and led them straight to Lex’s old cell without a single comment. Alex grinned internally, secretly loving the fear that radiated from him.

Kara noticed Lena inhale sharply when she saw a chess board lying on the bed. Lena ran her fingers across the square boxes as she remembered her childhood. Lex had taught her how to play the game when they were kids and she had loved it ever since. She admired the strategic aspect of it and how she could compare all of the chess pieces to a part of the world and to her life. She pulled away suddenly and stood up as if she was ashamed that she had ever bonded with her brother more than a decade ago.

Kara turned around before Lena could notice she was staring at her. She rummaged through everything Lex had left behind but she steered clear of the chess board and so did Alex. She must’ve seen Kara look at Lena and Kara blushed at the thought.

She cleared her throat. “These are just standard prison things. And a couple of journals that just explain how to kill Superman.”

There were at least five of those journals and it made Kara’s blood boil when she skimmed through it. They had spent hours reading through all of them but it didn’t include any information they needed. Kara had read about Lena’s childhood but she didn’t say anything. She was disturbed by the fact that Lex and Lillian had used Lena so many times even before she reached the age of ten. Lex wrote so many belittling things about her that Kara felt the urge to just pull her into a hug and never let go. The things Lex wrote about killing her cousin couldn’t even compare to what Lex had described about what Lena had to endure as a child.

Lena suddenly looked up from one of the leather journals and slammed it shut. “The chess board.” She walked over to it, fingering the pieces as if she was trying to decide which one to pick.

Lena muttered a string of words to herself and rearranged the chess pieces into a familiar pattern. The board split in the middle with a small creak and a button appeared on the edge of the left half.

She pushed it before Alex and Kara could warn her. They all looked up when the grey wall to their right groaned open. There was a tense silence when they realized it was a secret passageway. 

Lena walked in without hesitation and Kara and Alex followed. Kara was silently in awe of how she had figured it out. She never really saw Lena in action outside of her lab.

“That was impressive.” Kara smiled at Lena.

“Yeah, how’d you figure it out?” Alex wondered.

“Lex taught me how to play chess when I was five and he drilled everything he knew about it into my head by the time I was nine.” She explained. “I just remembered this specific pattern when he wrote about playing chess with me in one of his journals. He mentioned it a lot growing up.”

Kara was about to mention what she read in the journals she had but decided against it. Alex was Lena’s friend but it wouldn’t be right to discuss something like that in front of her.

“I think Lex wanted me to find this place.” Lena’s voice trailed off as she ran her hand along the wall.

“Why would he?” Alex asked.

Lena shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to mock how long it took me to find him and laugh in my face when he defeats me again.”

Kara frowned at Lena’s sad expression. She couldn’t wait to find Lex and bring him down. The bastard would deserve everything he had coming.

They had passed several empty rooms in the long, secret hallway but Lena paused when she peered into one located in the middle of the hall. Kara, curious, wanted to see what made Lena turn a slight tint of red. She walked up behind Lena and pressed her body against hers but she shifted slightly so that she could see into the room.

Lena’s heart sped up when she felt Kara push her body into her backside and her cheeks grew even hotter. The walls of the room were covered with photos of Kara and everyone she was associated with. Half of the photos were of her and Kara together. 

Alex appeared next to them, trying to ignore what was happening next to her. “Red Daughter’s room.” She awkwardly pointed to a Russian-English dictionary on the bed.

Kara stepped back and heard Lena release a breath. 

“How could she have lived here?” Kara asked. “Actually, how was she even here? This is a secure prison.”

“There must be another secret entrance somewhere.” Lena said, her voice more high pitched than usual. 

She noticed Alex give her a weird look but she ignored it and motioned at the end of the hall. It was dark but it was very clearly a dead end.

“She had to have gotten in here somehow so there must be a door that leads to somewhere else.” Lena continued. “That other entrance is important. It might tell us something.”

Kara agreed. “Let me use my x-ray vision.”

Immediately, she yelped in pain. How none of them noticed that the room was coated with lead was beyond her but she was more disappointed that there was no way for them to find the secret door.

“It’s fine. Red Daughter is gone anyway. There’s nothing telling us that anyone else was here besides her and Lex.” Alex reassured her sister.

She was right. In every room that they passed and peeked into, none of them contained anything but a simple bed. None of the beds had any sheets or bedding.

The three of them kept walking, peering into each room on the way even though they knew they wouldn’t find anything useful. Lena was the first one who got to the end of the hallway and reached out to touch the wall. She felt chalk.

“Anyone have any light?” She asked, her tone was intriguing.

Alex held up her phone light towards the wall. They could make out a drawing that was etched on the wall. It was slightly faded and Lena had a bad feeling that Lex had been planning something  _ really  _ bad for a  _ really  _ long time.

Alex stepped closer to the wall to shine more light on it. She could tell it was a drawing of a mountain and the details were so perfectly drawn on that she became interested in something Lex had done for the first time.

Kara saw the color drain from Lena’s face when she took in every detail. Kara noticed why when she realized Lex had included moments from their childhood that she had read about earlier. The chessboard and the fallen king was on the bottom left corner of the wall. A few inches to the right was a sketch of two figures competing at a fencing competition. He made it clear that the winning one was Lena and Kara couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. Their treehouse that Lena had told her about was a little higher up, closer to the center. He drew a young girl holding on to a teddy bear that was nearly as big as her torso. Lillian was behind the little girl with a wicked smile plastered on her face. 

Kara watched as Lena traced her finger over every little sketch. She paused at a big drawing of when Lex had taken her and tied her to an office chair at his old Luthorcorp office, which was her current one, a few years ago. She hadn’t moved to National City yet but she had been in town to visit her brother. She remembered that day like it was yesterday and she remembered how Lex had laughed and screamed in her face about how pathetic she was. He had never been so cruel to her before and she remembered she had broken down, tears streaming down her face, but he had done nothing but smile at her coldly. 

She took her finger off the wall as if it suddenly burned and she sniffled, holding back her tears. She gave the drawing a small smile when she remembered that he had gotten thrown into jail when the authorities arrived later on.

“Lena?” Kara’s voice was full of concern.

Lena wanted to sink into her arms when she heard how soft Kara’s voice was. 

“I’m okay.” Lena glanced at her for a second before focusing on the wall in front of her again. “This entire thing is definitely a clue.”

Kara noticed Alex’s dark expression in the little light they had. She had noticed how harsh Lena’s childhood was, too, and she didn’t seem to like it.

“I know where he is.” Lena said suddenly.

Alex and Kara turned to look at her and they followed her gaze to the very top of the drawing. The top of the mountain.

“I know where he is.” She repeated.


	11. Chapter 11

Lena’s finger tapped against the wall a few times, gathering her thoughts, before she explained. “Lex used to go on and on about wanting to build a mansion in one of the coldest places in Europe when he was a kid. He liked the cold and he liked that it would be easy to take over their government.” 

The tip of the mountain that Lex had drawn on the wall had a large house on it, perched at a weird angle. 

“He always said he would do it. Just move away and establish his power over somewhere new but I didn’t think he would.” Lena continued.

“How do you know the exact location?” Alex asked.

She pointed at the chalk drawing. “Look closely at the lines on the mountain.” Lena’s finger stopped at six different places.

The lines on the mountains seemed to be just that from far away but when Kara and Alex leaned in closer to get a better look, they realized those lines made up six different letters. 

“K,Z,N,I,A,A.” Kara spelled out.

“Kaznia.” Lena said. “It makes sense, too. Red Daughter appeared near Russia or Serbia. He must have been in Kaznia when she was discovered.”

“We should get back to the DEO.” Alex said. “They’ll be glad to know we have a lead.”

Lena nodded and walked in front of the Danvers. Kara and Alex followed behind her, arm in arm.

“She’s really smart.” Kara whispered.

Alex glanced at her sister and saw a small smile on her face. “She sure is.” She agreed.

This time, Alex and Lena didn’t complain about flying. They needed to get to the DEO as fast as possible and to Kaznia even faster. When they got to the DEO, everyone looked disappointed. Alex was pulled back by one of the agents that were in charge of the day’s criminal activities for a briefing.

Kara and Lena went on to gather the people that were in charge of finding Lex and Lillian.

“We believe Lex and Lillian, or at least Lex, are in Kaznia. The search happening here would still continue in case they had fled already but you can all relax a little.” Kara told the large group.

There was a collective sigh of relief. Everyone had been working nonstop for hours on end.

“We’re going to have to think about which agents to send to Kaznia.” J’onn said. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Lena stopped him. “I already have a plan. I just need one or two people to go with me.” She hoped she wasn’t too obvious about wanting Kara to go with her.

J’onn looked at Kara as if she was the only one who could convince Lena to think it through. 

“Lena, you’re not specifically trained.” Kara warned.

“Fine. You can be the one who comes with me then.” She replied, making eye contact with Kara. She tried not to sound too satisfied.

Kara swallowed when their eyes met. “That’s not a good idea…” She trailed off. “But I am a pretty good protector.”

A few people in the crowd rolled their eyes, including J’onn.

“Alright, fine. But you need a plan.” He gave up. 

After thinking for two minutes, Lena said, “Supergirl and I will go alone to Kaznia first to see if we could find where Lex and Lillian might be hiding. We’ll call for backup at the first sign of danger or Supergirl can fly us back here within minutes if needed.” 

Kara nodded. “We definitely won’t just stay there and fight them and whoever they have on their side now.”

Kara and Lena both knew their plan would definitely go wrong but they didn’t say anything.

“Doesn’t sound too bad.” J’onn approved. “I trust you two to be safe.”

The last part of the sentence wasn’t as hopeful as it should’ve sounded.

“Great!” Kara smiled wide. She turned to wink at Lena and pulled her into her arms before taking off through the DEO’s window.

“Thanks for the warning.” Lena murmured.

Kara laughed. “This is going to be a much quicker ride.”

Lena was hoping that it would be a slow flight. That way, she wouldn’t feel so dizzy and she could spend more time in Kara’s arms. Unfortunately, finding Lex and Lillian was more important at the moment. 

Kara landed in a more deserted area in the middle of Kaznia two and a half minutes later. She carefully helped Lena to her feet and steadied her when she wobbled.

“Flying at that speed probably messed with my heart more than you did when we had that big fight.” Lena joked.

Kara was taken aback. That sounded more bold than she had ever thought Lena could manage. She giggled nervously and she reached up to fix her glasses but she wasn’t wearing any. 

Lena eyed her and smirked. “I meant our broken friendship.” She corrected.

Kara blushed, feeling like she had embarrassed herself, but Lena’s smile only grew wider. She thought Lena had meant something else.

“I’m going to scan the area.” Kara finally said, trying to focus on the mission.

She had decided to land where she did because she noticed at least two miles of nothing but dirt with a big warehouse in the middle of it. It was the definition of the “perfect evil lair”.

Lena was left by herself for only a minute when Kara flew off to scout the area but it felt much longer. She mentally kicked herself for suddenly being so straight forward but she smiled when she remembered how flustered she had made Kara. It was a cold night but the thought of Kara’s red cheeks made her feel warm.

“Lex had definitely been here.” Kara suddenly landed next to her, snapping Lena out of her daydream.

She led Lena to the warehouse and she held on to her forearm to guide her through the dirt. She used her super strength to pry open the metal doors and walked in, breathing in the filtered air.

“Well, he must’ve been here not long ago.” Lena made a note of the chilled air.

She noticed dozens of tables placed in two rows and she touched each one as she passed them. Lena stared at the handcuffs that were placed on each table and a feeling of guilt rushed through her.

“The handcuffs…” Kara was next to her. “He captured aliens, didn’t he?”

Lena nodded and pointed to a table stacked with lab materials. “And there is alien equipment. He must’ve kidnapped them and did experiments.”

“Experiments?” Kara felt a pang in her chest. 

“Most likely focusing on mind control.” She replied.

Lena didn’t have to continue. They had found a device in Sam’s eyes and a few DEO scientists had worked on figuring out what it was while they were visiting Lex’s prison. They came to the conclusion that it could control someone’s brain waves and brain activity, which meant Lex had been fully controlling Sam and Reign for months. They couldn’t help but pity Sam. Lex had so much power over her when she wasn’t even herself.

Kara dropped a pair of handcuffs onto the table and it clanged against the metal. Lena noticed her expression and reached out to reassure her but Kara floated up into the air.

“I’m going to see if he’s still here or if there’s anything else in this warehouse.” She said, flying off before Lena could say a word.

Lena clenched her jaw. It wasn’t possible for her to understand what Kara was going through but she does have a sense of human decency. She might not be an alien but she knew what her brother did was wrong and she couldn’t wait for him to pay for his sins.

She paced around the room, looking for anything Lex had left behind, but she still didn’t have a clue on what her brother was planning. There weren't any big clues for her to find. Capturing aliens and torturing them was what Lex loved to do on a daily basis. She racked her brain on what he could’ve used them for but she got distracted when she remembered Kara’s facial expression when she first saw the handcuffs. Lena didn’t like her brother but this takes it to another level. She hated seeing Kara upset even more.

Kara whizzed into the room and landed loudly next to Lena. 

“Find anything helpful?” Lena asked, glancing at her.

“Helpful, I’m not sure about,” Kara answered. “But I saw a big room that’s at least a hundred feet below the ground.”

Lena pretended that she hadn’t noticed how long Kara had been gone for. She knew she was having a hard time processing Lex torturing aliens and using them for science experiments like guinea pigs.

She sighed, trying to lighten the mood. “Well, you have my permission to pick me up.” Lena teased.

Kara smiled, forgetting why she was upset for a minute. “Don’t complain when you’re dizzy later.” She said, holding onto Lena.

She had found a secret compartment in a locker and she flew them straight down. Lena thought her organs were going to fly out of her mouth. It was like they were dropping ten stories but ten times faster.

She had to catch her breath when Kara helped her down from her arms. “Can I complain once?” She asked.

Kara tilted her head and smiled at her. “You gave me permission.” She teased back.

Lena mumbled a “fine” and Kara giggled to herself when she caught it. 

“Come on.” Kara took her hand. “This room is huge. There must be some clues.”

Lena’s heart skipped a beat and she intertwined her fingers with Kara’s before she tugged her along. They spent nearly ten minutes hand in hand, searching through a cabinet, before they let go of each other. As much as they both secretly wanted to keep holding hands, they had work to do and it would be much faster if they had both their hands free.

Kara worked slower than Lena even though she could’ve used her super speed. Her entire body seemed like it was on fire even though she had let go of Lena minutes ago. She was shocked that Lena hadn’t said anything about it. She knew Lena wasn’t big on physical affection, no matter the relationship, because she basically had none growing up. 

Two hours later, nearly all of the cabinets in the room had been emptied and looked through. Everything they found in the cabinets had been thoroughly examined but they haven't found anything significant. They were all useless scraps and random things that must’ve belonged to the aliens Lex had taken hostage. They were nowhere to be seen, though, and Kara’s head hurt from thinking about what had become of them. 

“Kara.” Lena’s voice bounced across the room and echoed.

Kara turned towards her and saw her hold up a Rubik’s cube. She tried not to look confused.

“What did you find?” Kara felt stupid asking when the toy was right in front of her but Lena understood what she meant.

“When we were younger, I played with a Rubik’s cube a lot. It took my mind off of Lillian yelling at me for a while.” Lena explained, her voice low. “He always took it away from me, telling me that it was so simple. He told me I was wasting my time on such a stupid toy because it doesn’t represent intelligence at all.”

Kara’s throat closed up. She nearly always tears up whenever Lena brings up her childhood. 

“I just wanted to have fun with something I actually liked.” Lena continued, her voice barely above a whisper now.

Kara knelt down next to her and wrapped her arms around her in an awkward yet comforting side hug. “They can’t hurt you now. They can’t hurt you ever again.” She said softly into Lena’s ear. “You have me and I’m a great protector.”

Lena smiled at Kara’s comment and shifted her head to look at her. Their faces were inches apart and they looked into each other’s eyes. Without breaking eye contact, Lena reached for the Rubik’s cube and broke off all four corners of the red side of the cube. 

Kara looked over at the broken toy in Lena’s hand in question. Eyes wide, she watched as Lena pulled the two sides of the toy apart and it clicked. A small red button appeared and Lena looked at Kara again.

“Let’s hope this doesn’t blow us up.” She joked.

Kara stopped her. She pulled Lena into her lap and wrapped her cape around them. “Just in case it does.” She said.

Lena leaned into Kara and placed her head against her chest. She closed her eyes, listening to her heartbeat, and pushed the button.

They let go of each other when they heard a sound coming from the back of the room. They helped each other stand and they watched as the back wall split into two to reveal multiple large screens.

“Is that…?” Kara started to ask but was too shocked to finish.

Lena didn’t reply. She was just as shocked. 

The screens included surveillance of multiple American landmarks and of the Russian and Kaznian military. Lex had somehow gotten both armies to help him, probably by telling them of his plan. And his plan was made clear on the screen next to those. Military maps were plastered onto the wall and Lex’s notes were underneath.

“The president… the capital… bomb… military… war…” Lena mumbled a few words as she read what he had written.

Kara stepped closer to the wall to read it herself. “He’s trying to invade America?” Kara cried.

“Not try.” A voice said behind them. 

Lena and Kara swiveled around, caught by surprise.

“I  _ am  _ going to invade America.” Lex Luthor smiled.


	12. Chapter 12

Kara immediately placed herself in front of Lena, her hands raised slightly behind her to hold Lena off. She clenched her jaw and glared at Lex Luthor. 

He was wearing a slick black suit with a striped tie and he was standing with his hands in his pockets, ten feet away, like he was the most relaxed he had been in years. He glared back at Kara with a chilling smile on his face.

“Lena, get out of here.” Kara’s voice warned. 

Lena froze, staring at her brother. His expression sent chills down her spine. She didn’t recognize the man standing in front of her. He wasn’t the same person who had protected her from Lillian. He wasn’t the same person who taught her the game of chess or pushed her to start fencing. The man in front of her was a villain she couldn’t wait to get rid of. Still, she couldn’t move and Kara’s words didn’t register.

“Lena…” Kara repeated.

She was worried that Lena would be in danger once the fighting started, completely forgetting what she had promised J’onn earlier. She thought about flying Lena out of there so her safety was guaranteed but she didn’t want Lex to get away again. 

Lena still didn’t move. She watched as her brother slowly took his hands out of his pockets and held up two small lead boxes.

“See, I decided to bring my secret weapon in lead boxes so you wouldn’t be able to see it or detect it.” Lex opened them and eyed the contents inside. “Until I give you the surprise.”

Kara yelled out in pain, falling to her knees. Her skin was glowing with bright green lines and it felt like it was about to sear off of her. Lex had brought two sticks of Kryptonite on him, enough to hurt Kara from ten feet away.

“I love that I can so easily make this now. And I altered it so that the dosage in them is much higher.” Lex laughed maniacally. “Isn’t that great?”

Lena yelped, snapping out of her frozen state, and rushed to Kara’s side. She reached out a hand to tilt Kara’s head up so that she could see her.

“Kara, are you okay?” She asked, her eyes searching Kara’s face.

“Please,” Kara gasped. “Get out of here. For me.”

Lena’s hand brushed Kara’s face and Kara closed her eyes tightly in response. She didn’t know how to stop Lex and it pained her to leave Kara there when she was vulnerable but she knew her ming would work better if her brother wasn’t in the same room. She swallowed hard and glared at her brother.

“Go on, sis.” Lex shrugged. “Abandon her. My business is with Supergirl.”

Lena winced when Lex dragged out Kara’s alias name but she ran out of the room anyway, glancing behind her at Kara one last time.

Lex was still grinning like a psychopath but Kara had felt better when she felt Lena’s touch. It gave her a sense of warm and her pain felt like it had been gone for a second. She managed to muster enough strength to challenge Lex. She wasn’t about to back down so quickly.

Lex’s smile faded when Kara climbed to her feet. Her breathing was heavier but she stayed standing. She tried not to groan out loud from the pain but she knew Lex could see how much the Kryptonite was affecting her.

“For Lena.” Kara whispered to herself before charging.

She aimed her leg at Lex’s abdomen and he dropped to the ground with a loud thud. She punched him a few times in the face before he avoided her next couple of attacks. His face was cut and bruised, his lip bleeding, but he was able to dodge her heat vision. He reached inside his suit jacket and pulled out a gun. 

Kara dodged as Lex shot Kryptonite bullets at her and she was relieved when her cape shielded her from a couple. She leapt over a few cabinets, the sound of the flying bullets went past her ears. She was losing her energy fast and she needed to hurt Lex enough for him to stay out of the fight long enough for her to regain it.

She jumped over a table, a bullet grazed her shoulder, and she yelled out in pain. She ignored it and flew up in the air. Turning in mid-air, she clapped her hands together and the air rippled. Lex flew into a wall and created a hole that outlined his body. Kara took a deep breath and exhaled before she collapsed onto her stomach. The super sonic clap took too much of her energy and it nearly drained her of it completely. The Kryptonite bullet didn’t help and she touched her shoulder where it had hit and came away with a bloody hand. 

She lifted her head when she heard Lex groan in pain. Her vision was starting to become more and more blurry but she could make out a figure trying to stand up. She blinked hard twice, trying to get rid of the black dots in her eyes, and saw Lex on his feet. He was dazed and bleeding from his head but he seemed more angry than hurt.

“Supergirl.” Lex said with his teeth clenched tightly. “You can’t get rid of me so easily. I’m a Luthor.”

She didn’t know whether the last part was an indirect insult to Lena but she felt protective of her. Lex had no right to mock Lena anymore. 

Kara helplessly looked up at him. He managed to pull out more and more Kryptonite from secret pockets all over his clothing and she screamed in agony. The pain was ten times worse now and she was still writhing in pain two minutes later while Lex looked down on her.

“Pathetic.” Lex spat. “You Kryptonians only have one lethal thing that exists on this Earth and it’s that agonizing. And you’re supposed to be the most powerful beings on earth?”

Kara could barely hear his mocking. Her skin and insides felt like it was being set on fire and then cut with the sharpest knife a thousand times. Her eyes flooded with tears and rolled down her face uncontrollably. The amount of Kryptonite that she was exposed to wasn’t enough to kill her but it was enough for her to want to be blacked out. She heard one clang after another as Lex threw sticks of Kryptonite on the ground in front of her.

He slowly walked up to Kara, smiling widely as he took in how vulnerable and weak the Kryptonian was. He knelt down, close enough for Kara to feel his breath.

“I have waited for this moment for so many years, Supergirl. You might not be your cousin but you are the same. A Kryptonian. A god complex that everyone just accepts with open arms. Not me. I will not accept an alien that comes to my home and acts as if you’re everyone’s lord and savior.” Lex growled. “Don’t act like a god when you aren’t not one. You’re not superior to ANY of us. You’re not a higher being, you’re just a refuge.”

Kara was struggling to stay conscious and she only heard bits and pieces of what Lex was saying.

“I’ve spent years trying to kill your beloved cousin. The last male of Krypton, I heard. You can only be the last female Kryptonian, then. Killing you or him won’t make a difference to me. Your family will finally lose to a Luthor. You want to know why I hate you so much?” Lex continued. “It’s because you took  _ EVERYTHING  _ from me. All of my life’s work, all of my dreams. I spent my whole  _ LIFE  _ trying to change the world and you just show up. You just showed up and took it away!”

Kara flinched when he started yelling. It seemed like it was getting more personal now, even more personal than her being an alien.

Lex stayed quiet for a few seconds before he backed away from her. He stood up and looked at Kara.

“You took Lena from me.” He said a little more quietly.

_ Bang. Bang. _

Kara heard Lex crumple to the floor. She tried to wriggle her body in panic, still fighting to stay awake. Her vision was still blurry from the Kryptonite and she could barely make out what had happened. 

Lena was standing two feet behind Lex and Kara, a gun in her hand and a terrified expression on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open from shock and regret.

She had shot Lex from point blank and he was bleeding out slowly on the floor in between her and Kara. His hand was placed by his chest even though she had buried two bullets into his back. 

“You shot me.” Lex said. His voice was full of surprise but his expression got more and more furious.

Lena was surprised at herself, too. She had walked out of the secret room an hour ago just to remember that she was flown down by Kara and she found herself standing in a dark tunnel. She thought it was weird they hadn’t noticed it before but they had been busy with the room itself. She felt her way through the dimmed hall and found a doorknob ten steps in. She opened the door and felt for a light switch. When she turned it on and saw what the room contained, she took in a sharp breath. It was a weapons room. 

She had walked carefully around the studio-sized room, afraid to touch the bigger weapons. She knew the only chance she had to protect herself and Kara now was by choosing a weapon and hoping for the best against Lex but she couldn’t bring herself to take down one of the machine guns. She chose a smaller gun instead, an AMT AutoMag V. 

Lena had walked back to the secret room and stood in the doorway for a few minutes, scared to actually point the gun at her brother. She nearly gathered the courage to raise the weapon after a while when she saw Lex walking towards Kara but she stopped when she saw him kneeling down.

She listened to every single word that came out of her brother’s mouth and each one made her heart squeeze. She couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for Kara to hear them but she noticed that Kara’s eyes were unfocused. Lena had no idea if Kara could even see her.

Lena inched her way closer and closer to Lex and was careful to stay completely silent. She perked up when she heard Lex mention her. His words gnawed at her and she raised the handgun. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger. She nearly dropped the gun when she realized what she had done but she snapped her eyes open and aimed the gun at Lex’s back again. She was frozen in place from shock but she remembered Kara and dropped the gun on the floor, ignoring her brother’s comment. 

Still ignoring him, she ran in all directions to gather up all of the Kryptonite and threw them out of the room. She knew Lex wasn’t going to be able to get up to get it and hurt Kara again. She ran back to Kara’s side and pulled her into her lap. 

Kara was feverish and pale but she was alive and conscious. Her vision slowly came back to her and Kara realized it was Lena.

“Lena.” Kara’s voice sounded raspy but she gave a small smile, glad that Lena was okay.

“Shh, you’re weak.” Lena said, straining to hear from the ringing in her ears. “And you’re bleeding!”

Kara blew air out of her nose, too weak to actually laugh.

“Just a graze. No big deal.” She brushed it off. “Lex on the other hand…”

Lena looked at her brother. 

He looked much weaker and she noticed the large pool of blood. Lex was so pale, most of his veins were visible. His forehead was shining from the sweat. 

Lena gave Kara a quick kiss on the forehead and helped her to a sitting position before kneeling down beside Lex.

“You actually shot me.” Lex sneered.

“You’re surprised?” Lena asked softly. 

“Mother will have your head.” He spat at her.

Lena laughed quietly. “I know I give off medieval vibes sometimes but this isn’t the fifteenth century.”

“You won’t be laughing soon.” Lex threatened. “I was the only one who was there for you when we were kids. I was the one who stood up for you when you were bullied because you were too weak and  _ pathetic  _ to stand up to those idiots. I made sure you survived when you came into the family.  _ MY  _ family.”

Lena closed her eyes and flinched like each word actually stabbed her. She took a deep and collected breath.

“Don’t lie to yourself, Lex.” She spoke steadily, opening her eyes. “You were never truly there for me, even at such a young age. You knew you wanted to do everything in your power to destroy me because you knew I was better than you. Even when I was four, you feared my intelligence.”

Lex grew even angrier. “Don’t think so highly of yourself, Lena.”

“Everyone knows it’s true. Lillian knows it’s true. That’s why she does everything to protect the pride of her little boy.” Lena mocked. “Because  _ you’re  _ the pathetic one.”

Lex was speechless. Lena had truly struck every point and he hated that they were said. 

Kara had been silent the whole time, watching the event unfold. She knew how private this moment was and she was taken aback at how calm Lena was overall even though she knew this must’ve crushed her. 

Lena was deeply shaken inside but she forced every fiber in her being to hide it. She knew her composure would upset Lex and she used that to her advantage. 

“Either way, mother always favored me. It didn’t matter why she hated you, the fact is that she did.” Lex tried to shoot back, but even he knew it sounded weak. “Mother had been helping me for months.”

Kara and Lena both knew that but they let him talk. Lena noticed her brother’s chest heave after each word, his breaths shallower.

“You were right. We were planning to invade America. Taking it over would be easy with the armies we have. Remember the robots you built for mother? I can’t believe you were stupid enough to think it were to help me escape from prison. I changed the coding of the little pieces of metal. I had you mass produce it so it would save me some time and work. I programmed it so it would make sure every single person would bow down to us. I would’ve been a king. I’m sorry that you won’t see it.” Lex explained, his breathing was now completely hitched.

Lena clenched her jaw and stepped away from her brother slowly. Lex gasped for breath one last time and she watched as his body became still. 


	13. Chapter 13

Lena stood over her dead brother, her entire body shaking. Kara, feeling much better, stood up and walked over to her.

“Lena?” She said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Kara could feel her trembling and she gently pulls her away from Lex and into her arms. She barely had enough energy to fly but she used all of her remaining strength to make it happen. She knew she had to get Lena far away from Kaznia as soon as possible.

In the air, Lena stuffed her face into Kara’s shoulder and Kara could hear small sobs escaping from her. She made sure to fly slowly enough to make Lena as comfortable as she could be and she hugged Lena tightly to reassure her. Kara’s heart felt like it would break with every small heave that she felt against her chest.

For ten minutes, Kara flew steadily above the clouds. She headed straight for Lena’s apartment in the fancier part of National City without even thinking to report back to the DEO first. Her original mission didn’t even cross her mind once.

“I’m sorry, Kara.” Lena whispered so quietly that Kara wouldn’t have heard her if she didn’t have super hearing.

Kara had just gotten to her apartment and hesitated, wondering how she should enter. She didn’t want to break through her door or window but Lena pulled away from her and reached into her pocket for the keys. She sniffled, fumbling it before Kara took it from her hands and opened the door.

“Don’t say that, Lena.” Kara held open the door for her. “You did nothing wrong. Stop blaming yourself for things you couldn’t have known about.”

“I helped them, Kara. I am to blame.” Lena’s voice broke and she tried to hide her tears.

Kara walked over to her and caressed her face. She used her thumbs to wipe away Lena’s tears before they rolled down her paled cheeks.

“If you blame yourself for that, you should be mad at me again.” Kara whispered, guiding Lena to her couch a few feet away. 

“What, no-” Lena protested.

“Because,” Kara said. “I was the one who made you upset and that was too much for you. The only relief you could get was from Lex and Lillian. It’s not your fault, it’s mine.”

Lena shook her head sharply. By Kara’s logic, Lena knew she was right. She couldn’t blame herself but she felt so guilty that she wanted to blame herself. 

“I was so stupid. I should’ve known.” Lena wiped her hand across her face.

“You’re not. And you couldn’t have.” Kara said, her eyebrows furrowing.

They were sitting crossed legged in front of each other on the large couch. Kara looked into Lena’s eyes, desperately hoping that her words could ease Lena of some of her pain and guilt. She hated that Lena always blamed herself for things that she couldn’t control. She knew it was what made her so chaotically good but she couldn’t watch Lena blame herself all the time without feeling helpless herself.

Lena calmed down after a few minutes of silence. Kara was sitting on her feet, waiting to pounce Lena and hug her if she said anything else. Lena took a deep breath and leaned back. Kara watched wide eyed as Lena took off her light fall jacket. Lena then slowly unbuttoned her blouse, each button at a time. She had a tight fitting tank top under it and it showed off her curves perfectly. 

“You know, Kara.” Lena broke the silence. “Nothing you do is ever wrong. Not a single bad thing in this world is because of something you did.”

Kara was still staring at her but she tried to just focus on her eyes, afraid that Lena might think that she was shallow. 

“And that’s why I love you so much, Kara.” Lena said, rubbing her eyes.

Kara’s heart sped up but she thought Lena must’ve been so tired that she was just saying anything. She told herself she didn’t mean it in the way she had hoped but she was glad that Lena did, in fact, love her.

“Lena, come on.” Kara stood up. “Let’s get you to bed. You’re exhausted.”

“No, I’m not.” Lena shook her head, obviously trying to suppress a yawn.

Kara giggled. “Yes, you are. Come on, you should change out of your dirty clothes first. You need sleep.”

Lena could barely stand from how worn out she was but Kara was right. Her clothes were stained with dried blood and it reeked of the dirty Kaznian ground. She let Kara hold her hand to guide her to her own bedroom.

Kara led Lena to her king sized bed and told her to sit down while she finds her some clean clothes. She rummaged through her dresser for clothes comfortable enough to sleep in.

“How’s this?” Kara turned around to ask, holding up a thin, white set of pajamas.

Lena mumbled randomly, her eyelids barely open.

“Okay, this’ll do.” Kara muttered to herself. She placed the pajamas next to her on the soft bed and told Lena to change while she took off her shoes so she wouldn’t be able to see.

She knelt down on the fluffy white carpet and untied Lena’s shoelaces. She had changed into winter boots before they left for Kaznia, and Kara knew Lena was glad she didn’t have to wear those painful heels for a while. She took her time with the zippers in case Lena hadn’t finished changing but she couldn’t stall for much longer.

“Lena? Are you done?” Kara asked, keeping her eyes on the ground.

There was no response.

“Lena?” Kara asked again. She looked up when Lena stayed silent.

She smiled when she saw that Lena was asleep with only half of her body in the pajama top. Kara made a weird noise when she realized that she had absolutely nothing underneath and half of her torso was showing. She reached out but retracted a few times, hesitant to dress her, but she decided to anyway. Lena was somehow sitting, which was an uncomfortable sleeping position, and sleeping while barely dressed wouldn’t make it better.

Kara reached over and closed her eyes as she put Lena’s right arm through the armhole and froze for a second when her hand brushed the warm skin. She opened her eyes when she knew she was done and let Lena fall gently onto the white bedsheets. She backed away and her mouth hung open. The top was thinner than she had thought and she could see more of Lena than she should’ve. She cleared her throat and felt her cheeks grow hot. She quickly moved her gaze downwards.

Kara groaned. She had just noticed that Lena was still in her dirty pants. 

“How in the world would I be able to get her into these?” Kara sighed, holding up the pants. 

Kara glanced up at Lena and neatly folded the pajama bottoms before putting it back into Lena’s dresser.

“Sorry.” Kara said to a sleeping Lena before making her way out of the room, quietly shutting the bedroom door behind her.

She wasn’t about to change Lena without her permission. As much as she wanted to, it would’ve been creepy and inappropriate. She plopped down on Lena’s living room couch and sighed. 

She knew Lena had wanted to tell her what she had really done for Lillian and Lex right before she urged her to get sleep. To be honest, a part of her only suggested that so she wouldn’t tell her. Kara trusted her and knew none of it was Lena’s fault. She didn’t want Lena to feel guiltier than she was because she knew Lena would convince herself that she doesn’t deserve Kara’s love and trust. She hated having to think that Lena was manipulated into this horrible mindset of herself from such a young age by her mother, who was supposed to protect and love her no matter what. 

Kara’s thoughts were interrupted when her phone rang.

“Alex?” She asked, stifling a yawn.

“Kara, what the hell?!” Alex yelled into her phone. “The DEO had been trying to reach you and Lena for hours! I called your phone twenty times but I couldn’t reach you! You owe me an explanation and it better be a damn good one.”

Kara cursed when she pulled her phone away from her ear and noticed seventeen missed calls from Alex and many more from her other friends.

“Why didn’t you report back to us? Where are you? Where is Lena?” Alex continued to yell.

“I’m sorry!” Kara yelled back to try to calm her sister down but immediately lowered her voice when she remembered Lena was sleeping. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know we were safe. I was… busy.”

“Busy.” Alex fumed. “That doesn’t mean-”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry and I’ll explain when I get to the DEO.” Kara raised her hand in defeat even though Alex couldn’t see her.

She walked back into Lena’s bedroom to check on her one last time before she took off for the DEO.

“Supergirl!” Alex yelled at her sister when she arrived as if she hadn’t yelled at her a minute ago on her secret phone call.

Dozens of agents and the rest of the Super Team gathered around with mixed expressions on their faces. 

“I’m so sorry, everyone.” Kara apologized, looking at the agents. 

The DEO agents nodded. They very rarely questioned what National City’s hero did, figuring she always had her reasons. They respected her enough. But as much as they and Kara’s friends respected her, they were annoyed this time. It wasn’t like Kara to forget the mission and she never puts it behind anything. Everyone stared at her, waiting for an explanation. 

Alex dismissed the agents and turned to Kara with the same expectant expression.

Kara cleared her throat. She wasn’t sure how to approach the matter.

“Lena is fine at her apartment.” Kara began. “But… Lex is not.”

Her friends listened carefully as she explained everything that had happened in Kaznia. They were surprised when they heard that Lex had died but they were more surprised to learn that Lena was the one who killed him. Everyone knew that Lena’s soft spot was for her family.

Alex eased up when she heard about Lena, too, but she narrowed her eyes when Kara mentioned Lena first and foremost. She figured that there was more to the story but Kara hesitated after explaining she brought Lena home first. Alex thought it was suspicious when she had been back in the city for hours but had just gotten to the DEO but she let it go.

“I’m glad you and Lena are okay.” Maggie spoke up. 

“We all are,” J’onn chimed in. “But we still have one big problem we need to resolve.”

“I’m extremely ecstatic Lex Luthor is finally dead but J’onn’s right.” Nia said sarcastically. “Lillian Luthor is still out there and she’s probably going to go forward with the plan. Knowing her history, she probably made a Plan B for if Lex wasn’t going to help her.”

An uncomfortable silence set in. Lillian might be even more difficult to stop than Lex and it won’t be fun. Finding and defeating Lex was hard enough but now they had to do it again, with another megalomaniac.

“Supergirl,” Alex said, pulling Kara away from the group. “I’m still upset with you even if you guys are back in one piece.”

“I know, Alex. I’m sorry. I was distracted.” Kara replied.

“I could tell.” Alex sighed.

Kara looked up in surprise but Alex acted like she hadn’t said anything. 

“I’m just worried. It was a dangerous mission but you convinced us to stay back. It could’ve gone so wrong.” Alex lectured her younger sister. 

“I know, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. It’s just that I only thought about Lena.” Kara admitted.

“Kara-” Alex began to say.

“Sorry to interrupt but we need to discuss what we’re going to do about Lillian. We need you guys with us.” Nia tapped their shoulders awkwardly, having heard most of their conversation.

Nia noticed Alex’s stern but comforting expression and Kara’s rosy cheeks but she didn’t ask. She followed them back to the group meeting that had now gathered in the center of the room.

“We need to prioritize this mission again. Get our top agents to lead this like before.” J’onn suggested.

“Definitely.” Alex agreed just as she joined the group. “I’ll assign the agents first thing tomorrow morning.”

The sun had come up a few minutes ago but no one noticed. They all needed some rest before tracking down Lillian again.

Kara’s hearing picked up on a small sound half a mile from the DEO’s main doors. She ignored it, trying to focus on the task at hand first.

“We need more agents on it. This is more important than getting to Lex.” Kara said. “Lillian must be closer to finishing and executing the plan to invade America now and she must be stopped as soon as possible.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and they continued to discuss the best ways to find Lillian. Brainy immediately headed to the computer screens, trying to track Lillian Luthor’s signature. J’onn offered to fly around to see if he could sense her.

Minutes passed and everyone was still racking their brain for ideas when all of the agents that were still in the building froze. Everyone went silent and the remaining members of the Super Team looked up.

A woman was standing in the main doorway of the DEO. She had a jacket wrapped around her shoulders. Her pants had specks of sand but her winter boots were coated with it.

“I know where my mother is.” Lena announced, stepping into the light.


	14. Chapter 14

“Lena, what are you doing out of bed?” Kara ran to her.

Her friends exchanged knowing looks but had the same question. Lena had been at the DEO a few times but she had never showed up randomly on her own.

Lena let Kara guide her to the group and wrapped her jacket tighter around her. The early morning was chilly and Kara noticed. She wrapped her arm around Lena’s shoulder to give her some warmth and urged her to explain what she was doing here.

“What do you mean you know where Lillian is?” Alex was more straightforward. 

“She called me almost two hours ago and woke me up. I drove here as fast as I could.” Lena explained, holding up her keys to prove what she was saying was true.

“Lena-” Kara was worried that talking to Lillian had triggered something in Lena but she cut her off.

“I know what you’re going to say and I’m fine, Supergirl.” Lena looked into her eyes and gave her a small smile.

“What did she tell you?” J’onn asked, curious.

“She called to give me her location. She knows the DEO had been looking for her.” Lena answered. “I know I can’t trust her at all but I came straight here to let you know. I figured Brainy could look into it better than I did.”

Brainy nodded, smiling at the indirect compliment. 

“You’re probably right. It’s definitely some sort of trap.” Alex agreed.

Not a single person in that room trusted Lillian but they were more hopeful now that they had a lead. They always rushed into dangerous situations anyways and it wouldn’t be the first time they willingly let themselves be trapped.

“I’m going to check the address and then you can come up with a good plan.” Brainy reached for the post-it note Lena was holding in her left hand. “And then you can catch Lillian Luthor.”

Lena handed the little paper square to him and pulled Kara aside as the rest of the team followed Brainy.

“Lena, what-” Kara began to ask.

“Fly me to LCorp, Kara.” Lena whispered, placing her hands on Kara’s hips.

Kara bit her bottom lip and glanced down at Lena’s hands, avoiding direct eye contact.

“To LCorp? Why?” She managed to ask.

“I have a surprise for you.” Lena whispered.

Lena’s low voice made Kara shudder. 

“Well, hang on.” Kara smiled and wrapped her arms around Lena’s waist before she soared through the air.

“Kara,” Lena warned. “You’re going a bit too fast.”

Kara slowed down immediately. “Sorry.” Kara giggled. “So, what’s the surprise?”

Lena made a small noise from the back of her throat. “It wouldn’t be a very nice surprise if I just told you, would it?”

“I really thought I was being convincing.” Kara tried to flirt.

“Your little charmspeak doesn’t work on me as well as you like to think.” Lena teased back. 

Kara neared LCorp and she prepared to land at the main door.

“Avoid the main entrance. I don’t want anyone to see us coming in.” Lena pointed. “There’s a well hidden back door.”

Kara landed softly on the ground and carefully helped Lena to her feet. She watched as Lena felt around the grey wall for a second, muttering that she hadn’t used this in a while, and pushed when her hand found what she was looking for. An entrance big enough for two people appeared and Lena turned back to smile at Kara.

“That’s a good enough surprise.” Kara teased. “The actual surprise can’t top that.”

Lena rolled her eyes and laughed. Even Kara heard how terribly cheesy that line was.

“Come on, Kara.” Lena tugged on her arm to get her to follow.

After a couple of steps, Kara could make out an elevator shaft ten feet in front of them. There was a car right below them and Kara could make out the red and blue colours on the metal.

Lena pushed a button on a panel and the elevator rose up and opened its doors. She motioned for Kara to follow and she hit another button to bring them down to her private lab.

“Is this a good surprise or a really good surprise or just a surprise?” Kara wondered.

Lena only smiled in response and pulled her out of the elevator and inside her lab. She let go of Kara’s hand when she headed to a small table in the back right corner of the room and picked up a small metal box. 

“What’s that?” Kara asked, giddy from excitement. 

Without answering, Lena walked up to her. Their bodies were nearly touching and Lena avoided eye contact. Kara knew she must be nervous but she couldn’t figure out why. 

Still silent, Lena held up the small box and placed it on the Super symbol on Kara’s chest. With her other hand, she placed it over the box as if she was trying to feel Kara’s heartbeat. The box made a small click and it transformed into a protective shield over the family symbol. 

Lena slowly slid her hand off after a few seconds. Neither of them had moved away from each other and Kara could hear Lena’s heartbeat.

Kara cleared her throat. “Is that a Kryptonite shield?”

“I could bet you my life that Lillian will use Kryptonite on you.” Lena responded. “I know the last one I made you cracked in a fight a while ago and I never made you a new one. This one is pretty much indestructible. The final product is still kind of in the works so it still needs some work, but it’s still really useful now.”

Kara didn’t flinch when Lena knocked her knuckles on it to further her point.

“Oh. Thanks.” Kara breathed heavily as she locked eyes with Lena.

Lena felt her heart pound when she noticed Kara’s blue eyes sparkle in the light. She placed a hand on Kara’s arm and was surprised that her hand wasn’t shaking.

“Of course.” Lena managed to whisper. “You’re not the only one who’s a good protector.”

Kara gave in to the touch and quickly pulled Lena into a hug. “I love it.” She thanked her again.

“Supergirl?” Kara’s coms crackled from the static. “We need you and Lena back here.”

Kara blushed, realizing that the others had seen her fly off with Lena without an explanation.

“Sure thing.” Kara glanced at Lena.

Lena sighed, disappointed that the moment was over. She let Kara fly her back to the DEO in top speed even though a good portion of her organs wanted to escape from her in the worst way possible. 

When they landed at the desert facility, their friends were waiting for them. Weirdly enough, all of them had their arms crossed like they were their parents waiting for them to get home from a date night.

“Are you going to ask?” Maggie leaned towards Alex and whispered into her ear.

Her girlfriend gave her a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow as if she was saying “what do you think”. Maggie got the message and turned her attention to Lena and Kara again. She had no idea how Kara could never hear them whenever they discussed her and Lena even with super hearing. 

“Now that everyone’s here,” J’onn said. “We can go over our plan.”

While Lena and Kara had been gone, the others had been talking about the teams. They all agreed that there should be two teams in case it was a trap.

“Lena, Supergirl, and J’onn would be Team A.” Alex announced. “Lena, you know Lillian best. That could be an advantage for us.”

Lena nodded, satisfied that she was being a part of the official team. She was glad that they needed her.

“You three would go directly to the coordinates Lillian gave Lena to confront her and hopefully to stop her without any problems.” Alex continued.

“And Team B, the backup team, would consist of Alex, Maggie, Dreamer, and Brainy. They will stay close to the exact location and stay there until absolutely necessary. The element of surprise would definitely be an advantage.” J’onn added on.

“And, uh, the actual plan for fighting?” Lena asked.

“Just do what we always do.” Kara answered. “Try to survive and beat the bad guy’s ass on the way. Adapt, improvise, overcome.”

“Are there going to be any DEO agents with us? Any Team C?” Lena wondered.

Alex shook her head but she did seem a little disappointed. “It’s too dangerous for them. They’re not trained to go against someone like Lillian Luthor, especially when she has this much power.”

It made sense but it wasn’t comforting to hear. Another backup team would’ve been nice to have but one would have to do.

The ride to Lillian’s hiding place was slow and awkward at best. Each team had their own van and J’onn was stuck in the back with Lena and Kara. He tried to ignore their cheesy exchanges and their attempts at friendly conversation or small talk but he wasn’t successful.

“This shield is really sturdy.” Kara said, knocking on her chest.

J’onn internally groaned and cut in before Lena could reply. “Yes, Lena is a brilliant scientist.”

Lena smiled shyly. J’onn had always been friendly to her but they were never that close. She always thought of him as the Danvers’ other father and she respected him like he was. During family gatherings, they had made polite small talk but they never hung out alone. During DEO missions, it was clear that she was needed and they worked well together with no problems at all. She wasn’t used to this extra level of friendliness from J’onn.

“He’s right, you know.” Lena tried to lighten the mood. “It’s like you forget that sometimes.”

J’onn kicked himself mentally when he realized he pushed them even further into the flirting but he did like that their relationship is so strong again. It was pretty much hell for him when Kara and Lena had that big fight a while ago when Kara seemed down all the time. He loved Kara like his own daughter but he couldn’t believe that she hadn’t figured out how she really felt. 

Kara went to adjust her glasses but she realized she was in the suit and she brushed the little strands of hair out of her face instead. 

“I never forget. You’re the smartest person I know.” Kara said defensively.

Lena raised an eyebrow. She muttered Brainy’s name under her breath but no one seemed to hear. He was a twelfth level intellect from the future and was smarter than her. 

Kara sat still for the next couple of minutes, staring down at her hands while her fingers fidgeted nervously. Lena looked out the window at nothing. They were in the middle of nowhere and the most interesting thing you could find outside of the vehicle was a dying plant. J’onn didn’t even know where to look and he was extremely glad to hear that they had arrived.

They were still in the middle of nowhere but there was a large house a couple of yards to the left of the road. The exterior was painted a purple so light it could’ve been pink. The porch swing was slanted to the side, broken, and the railings to the porch were in terrible shape. The only thing that looked truly new was the door. The wood had beautiful carvings all over and it gleamed in the sun. There was a rectangular window near the top but Kara couldn’t look through it. Just as she was about to knock on the door out of sheer politeness, the trio heard a bang.

A woman had come out of the back door of the house and had begun to walk towards them.

“Well, I’m happy to see that you’ve made it.” Lillian Luthor grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a slower chapter but we’re almost getting ~there~


	15. Chapter 15

Kara immediately pushed Lena behind her and glared at Lillian. About a dozen of the robots Lena had made for her were behind Lillian as if waiting for a command. She noticed the glowing head piece and Kara held her head up higher, hoping she seemed more intimidating than she felt.

“Now, don’t act so hostile.” Lillian stepped forward and the robots followed, ignoring Kara. “Don’t you have any manners, dear? Greet your mother, Lena.”

Lena’s gaze never left her mother’s. “If only I had a mother to teach me those manners, am I right?”

Lillian paused from the remark and gave a small chuckle as if Lena hadn’t been more wrong.

“I think it’s still a trap.” Lena whispered to Kara, her shoulders tense from seeing Lillian again after everything that had happened.

Kara nodded, her stance still strong between the two Luthors. She didn’t know how Lena felt about seeing Lillian again, especially after Lex’s death, but she did know that it wasn’t positive in the slightest.

“This is not a cheap trick if that’s what you’re thinking.” Lillian tilted her head and smiled, but it didn’t feel comforting at all. “I just want to talk to my daughter. I haven’t seen her in a while and I missed her.”

Lena tried to keep her composure but it was ridiculous that Lillian was still trying to manipulate her. She felt disgusted that she had ever wanted to love that woman.

“Leave her alone.” Kara’s jaw was clenched tightly. She was tired of the Luthors using Lena and then abandoning her when they were finished with her like she was just a toy. Lena deserved much better than Lillian.

“You killed Lex!” Lillian shouted at her daughter, her eyes grew colder by the second. “He was your brother, Lena. He loved you.”

Lena’s eyes filled with tears and she willed for them to go away. She hated looking vulnerable in front of Lillian, especially when she didn’t seem to have the upper hand.

“He was my only son and was smarter, better in every way compared to you. He did love you in his own way even if you kept denying it. I didn’t take you in at the age of four, a child that wasn’t even mine, for you to grow up and murder my real child. As much as you crave for love and family, you will never have that kind of comfort, Lena. It doesn’t matter how much you want it. You are not my daughter. You don’t deserve the Luthor name. You’re a nobody.” Lillian snarled with disgust.

Lena’s lips quivered, desperate to break down in tears, but she forced herself to stay strong. Lillian didn’t deserve her tears.

“You’re wrong.” Kara shook her head sharply, her chest heaving from anger. “The Luthor name doesn’t deserve Lena.”

Kara wanted to pull Lena into a hug but she needed to focus on Lillian. The most important thing on her mind right now was to protect her from Lillian and she wouldn’t be able to do that if she let her guard down, even if she really wanted to. A voice in her head told her she was being a terrible friend, but she had no choice but to postpone comforting Lena for the time-being. 

Lena was still frozen in place, her head swarmed with the words that came out of Lillian’s mouth. She knew she shouldn’t let them get to her but she still felt hurt and betrayed. Of course, it wasn’t the first time a Luthor hurt her but she wasn’t expecting Lillian to say that she would never have love in her life. To be honest, she only felt so hurt by those words because a part of her thought that was true.

“If you’re so hungry for revenge, why weren’t you expecting us to attack you? You seem very confident that we won’t take you into custody right here and now.” J’onn asked, glaring at Lillian himself.

As a Martian Manhunter that had found a new family on another planet, he had basically become a father figure to the Super Friends. He considered Lena to be a part of his family even though they weren’t too close. 

“Yeah, why not?” Kara felt silly echoing J’onn. “We could take you down right now before you begin whatever you’re planning to do.”

Lillian looked away from her daughter and planted her gaze on Kara instead. “Oh, Supergirl. You know Lena won’t be able to handle my death. She had just murdered her brother. There is no way that she could survive watching me die.”

Kara was glaring at her so hard that her heat vision activated but she deactivated it immediately when she realized Lillian was right. Lena’s weakness was family and she couldn’t hurt her again like that.

Lena felt a squeeze in her chest when she heard Lillian mutter about how pathetic and weak she was. Kara had absentmindedly reached back with an arm and placed it on Lena’s arm. She tried to focus on Kara’s touch so she wouldn’t try to kill her mother. Another part of her refrained because she knew Lillian was right. She wouldn’t be able to take it and she hated that fact. 

Kara turned her attention away from Lillian for the first time to look at Lena and her expression instantly softened.

“We’ll retreat for now.” Kara told her and J’onn, her eyes never leaving Lena’s.

Lillian smiled, satisfied. Kara tried to pull Lena away but she stood still for another few seconds, staring at her mother.

“I’m glad that I never loved you, Lillian.” Lena said flatly. “Even if I wanted to, I’m glad I didn’t.”

Lillian’s smile didn’t waver. “I’m warning you, Lena. You’re much weaker than you think. Your friends ruin you.”

“I’m only so strong  _ because  _ of my friends.” Lena said to her, turning her back on her mother before letting Kara pull her along.

Team B was shocked to learn that they hadn’t been led into a trap. They were even more surprised when Kara said she decided to not fight Lillian.

“Okay, screw Lillian.” Nia announced. “I say we get wasted and forget about her.”

There was scattered laughter throughout the group but it was unenthusiastic.

“Is that a good idea?” Brainy asked, still confused about how sarcasm worked.

“Not really.” Kara laughed. “But we do all deserve a night off.”

“Hell yeah!” Maggie bounced on the balls of her feet from excitement.

Alex pecked her girlfriend on the cheek. “We haven’t had a night out in a long time.”

The group of seven took their time to get to their usual bar back in National City. There was a silent agreement that it would’ve taken them ten minutes if they still had a DEO building in the city.

When they finally arrived, Maggie dragged Alex straight to the bar counter. They hadn’t had a date night in months, and Maggie wanted to get drunk as fast as possible even though Alex 

said she’d pass on the alcohol for tonight.

“Come on, Danvers.” Maggie pleaded. “Loosen up a smidge.”

Alex smiled but still shook her head. “Not tonight, babe. Seeing you almost black out is enough fun.”

The rest of the gang headed for their usual table and watched as Maggie dragged Alex all over the place. 

“I’m glad they have each other.” Kara nudged Lena.

She nodded. “They’re cute.”

“We’re going to… just get away from this table for a bit.” Nia made up a weak excuse, pulling J’onn and Brainy with her.

“That was weird.” Lena murmured, looking down at her lap.

Kara’s heart felt full when she looked at her and she smiled. It was calming to be with Lena again after all they had to go through the past few weeks. It hadn’t been easy for them both.

“Come on, let’s get a drink at the counter.” Kara grabbed Lena’s hand so she had no choice but to follow.

“Aren’t you immune to alcohol?” Lena asked. She looked down at their feet and realized that their footsteps were in sync. She almost didn’t hear Kara’s response.

“Well, yeah. But you’re not and you need to destress.” Kara glanced back at her and attempted a wink.

Suddenly, a table flew through the air and Kara immediately grabbed Lena and spun to get her out of the way. She looked around the room to try to see who threw the table but it was too crowded. It wasn’t too unusual that random objects would fly through this bar since there were fights often but Kara was annoyed that it nearly hit Lena.

Lena cleared her throat and Kara turned to look at her. They both blushed a dark shade of red when they realized they were pressed against each other. Kara had her hands placed around Lena’s waist and when she had spun, she threw them against a wall. Lena was sandwiched between it and Kara but she didn’t try to move away.

“Um, sorry.” Kara whispered an apology but she didn’t move away either.

A soft sound escaped Lena’s lips but Kara couldn’t make out what she said.

“It’s okay.” Lena repeated, clearing her throat.

“Hey, guys.” Nia bounced towards them and froze. “Oh, um.”

Kara quickly pulled away from Lena and they both stood awkwardly, waiting for Nia to finish what she was saying.

“Um,” Nia continued. “Apparently there’s this new nightclub that opened across the street. Brainy and I wanted to go check it out so I could teach him some modern-day stuff. You guys wanna come?”

Lena looked at Kara and wanted to say no but Kara was looking at her with excitement flashing across her eyes.

“New club.” Kara raised her eyebrows, hoping her giddy expression was enough to convince Lena to join her.

“I don’t know… Not really my scene.” Lena already made up her mind to follow her but she found it entertaining when Kara would try her hardest to persuade her.

“It’ll be fun! There’s dancing… I know you don’t love to dance, but it’d be fun!” Kara pleaded. 

Lena sighed a little too dramatically. “Guess I don’t have a choice.”

Kara’s face lit up and Nia winked at her. 

“Well, you guys can go first. It’s open to everyone. I just need to find Brainy.” Nia told them.

Lena and Kara exchanged a glance, knowing Nia had a crush on Brainy and vice versa. They waved to Maggie, Alex, and J’onn on the way out while giggling to each other.

“I can’t believe they’re not together yet.” Kara laughed out loud.

“I know right? It’s so obvious! It’s incredible that they don’t realize each other’s feelings.” Lena added, stepping into the club.

“We never got that drink.” Kara suggested.

“You owe me one.” Lena gestured towards the bar counter and Kara frowned when she saw how many people were gathered around it.

“Well, the dance floor is sort of open…” Kara trailed off, tilting her head at Lena.

“You know I don’t dance.” Lena smiled shyly. “And it’d be weird to do it sober.”

Kara pouted but held up a finger, telling Lena to wait. The whoosh from Kara’s super speed messed up Lena’s hair and Kara was back before she could even fix it. Kara held up two drinks and smiled, satisfied with herself. Lena looked around, worried that someone might’ve seen her, but everyone was either too wasted or too distracted.

“I got my secret alien alcohol drink and I got you… whatever this is.” Kara handed one of the glasses to her.

Lena took a sniff and brought the glass up to her lips. “Scotch.”

Kara felt relieved that she actually got her one of her favorites and took a few sips from her own glass.

“Ready for the dance floor now?” Kara teased.

Lena glanced over her shoulder at the center of the club. It was more crowded now but she was slightly buzzed. She hoped it was enough for her to not feel embarrassed.

Kara noticed her small nod and took Lena’s glass. She pulled her to the very middle of the floor after putting the alcohol down on a random table. Kara’s alien drink was a little stronger than Lena’s scotch but she was barely drunk. The little buzz she felt was more comforting than anything. 

Without warning, Kara pulled Lena closer to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Lena was taken by surprise but she smiled and wrapped her arms around Kara’s neck. They started swaying slowly to the music even though it was a fast song. They didn’t seem to notice anything else except each other. 

“I’m glad we got a night off.” Kara whispered, pushing her body closer towards Lena’s.

Lena let Kara guide them. She stayed quiet for a minute, taking in the moment.

“Me too.” Lena said softly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am literally crying at the bts and bloopers from season 5

The nightclub became more and more crowded and Lena and Kara moved closer and closer to each other. Their faces were so close that they could feel each other’s breath. Lena hated dancing in public but the adrenaline coursing through her because of how close she was to Kara fueled her enough to do whatever Kara wanted. 

Their bodies swayed together and neither of them focused on anything except each other. Lena’s eyes were closed, letting her feel Kara’s touch and nothing else. The rush of blood she felt in her face drowned out the music and other noises but she kept moving her hips. They let each other guide their bodies, moving in sync with each other. 

Kara moved to place her hands on Lena’s hips and she accidentally brushed her hand against hers. Both of them felt the little shock from the contact. Lena took in a sharp breath, desperate for Kara’s touch. Kara felt her heart race and looked down at the space between them. More accurately, she looked down at the space that wasn’t between them. Lena had pressed her body directly onto Kara’s when their hands touched.

Lena opened her eyes to see Kara looking at her with a soft smile. She smiled back and slowly moved her hand upward to brush the little stray strands of hair away from Kara’s face. She was about to drop her hand to her side but Kara’s right hand left her hip to grab it. 

At this point, they both moved so that their foreheads were pressed together. They were still swaying to the music but they were moving so similarly they didn’t notice they were still dancing. Kara’s hand was still holding on to Lena’s and she shuddered when Kara brushed her thumb over her skin.

Lena suddenly pulled away a couple of inches and she took her hand away from Kara’s. 

“What-” A small wave of panic hit Kara when she thought she had done something wrong.

Lena shook her head to reassure her that everything was more than fine. She locked eyes with Kara and stared deeply into them. Kara fiddled with her fingers from nervousness when she heard how hard Lena’s heart was beating. She blushed when she realized her heart was beating just as fast.

Without saying a word, Lena wrapped her arms around Kara’s waist. Still staring into Kara’s eyes, she slowly slid her hands upwards. She stopped when she got to the middle of Kara’s back and let out a shaky breath. 

They simultaneously leaned into each other and Lena moved her hand so that they were behind Kara’s neck. She felt a rush course through her and her heart tugged when their lips met. Kara’s heart was pounding against her rib cage so hard she could hear it in her head.

Kara deepened the kiss and Lena threaded her fingers into Kara’s blond hair. Kara’s hands were now tightly wrapped around Lena’s waist. She pushed her body harder onto her, the little space between them completely disappeared. Lena’s other hans ran up and down Kara’s back before Lena pulled back, gasping for air.

She leaned back in almost immediately. Kara’s hand found her way behind Lena’s neck, holding them in one spot, and she ran her other hand through Lena’s hair, her fingers intertwined with the dark locks. Kara opened her mouth wider for better access and Lena gasped, surprised by the kiss.

When they finally pulled away, both of them were panting for air. Kara’s face was completely red and she ran her fingers down her stomach, craving for Lena’s touch.

Lena was biting her bottom lip, unsure of what Kara was thinking. She hoped she hadn’t been too forward but her fear disappeared when Kara leaned in and pecked her quickly on the mouth.

“What was that for?” Lena asked shyly.

“I-” Kara started to say but stopped herself. “Because you’re such an amazing dancer.”

Lena laughed loudly. Her entire face lit up and Kara fixed her gaze on her. Kara’s heart felt like it exploded when she saw Lena’s smile widen and she nearly teared up when she heard her laugh.

“Let’s get out of here.” Kara took Lena’s hand in hers and pulled her towards the exit. “It’s really crowded.”

Lena obediently followed and they both immediately became soaked. It had started to rain a while ago and they hadn’t noticed.

“Come on.” Lena gave her a bright smile and tugged on Kara’s sleeve to pull her along. 

They walked slowly, arms linked, in the rain and they felt every single raindrop roll down their faces but they didn’t care. Kara slung one arm around Lena’s shoulder to give her some warmth in the slightly chilled night air and Lena leaned into her happily.

When they got to Kara’s apartment building, she offered for Lena to come in and she nodded. She was soaking wet and desperately needed a shower.

Still holding onto Lena, Kara unlocked her door and led Lena into her apartment. She dropped everything and shut the door behind them, slightly harder than she had planned. Kara turned, lowered her arms to Lena’s hips, and pushed her against the wall. 

Shocked, Lena’s mouth gaped open and she breathed heavily. She stared at Kara’s wide, blue eyes and swallowed. They stayed in that position for a while, pressed against each other’s body. Lena was once again sandwiched between Kara and a wall. 

Kara pushed Lena a little harder against the wall and she almost shivered when she heard Lena gasp. Kara slowly leaned forward and pressed against Lena’s soft lips. Lena’s head spun when she kissed her back, pushing back against Kara for more. Kara removed her hands from Lena’s hips and pinned Lena’s arms gently against the wall. Their mouths moved together as one as if they couldn’t get enough of each other.

Minutes must’ve passed before Kara finally pulled backwards. 

“Want to watch a movie?” Kara asked casually, chest heaving.

Kara had chosen a more recent Disney movie so Lena might have an idea about it but she wasn’t surprised when she was still clueless. Kara had started the movie by herself first while Lena took a shower and cleaned herself up in the bathroom.

Kara was so into the movie that she didn’t realize Lena had come out of her bathroom until Lena leaned into her on the couch. 

“Oh, hi!” Kara smiled even before her eyes left the television screen. 

When Kara turned towards Lena to give her a cheeky grin, her mouth dropped open instead. Lena’s hair was in a wet mess, loose strands clinging on to the side of her face. She had on Kara’s National City University sweatshirt and she was wearing boxer shorts.

Lena blushed. “I didn’t want to mess up your dresser so I grabbed whatever was on top.”

Kara’s attention wasn’t on the movie anymore. She turned her entire body towards Lena and her face lit up in excitement. Lena leaned backwards so that she was using her elbows to hold herself up. Kara flipped herself so that she was nearly leaning over her. 

“You look  _ really  _ nice.” Kara whispered.

“Well, you could use a little shower.” Lena teased.

Kara dropped lower so that she was directly on top of Lena. She kissed her forehead and put her full weight on her. Lena couldn’t complain about being crushed when her ear was pressed against Kara’s chest, listening to her heart beat.

They shifted and half of Kara was on the couch while the other half of her was draped over Lena. Lena’s hands were placed at her sides and Kara had placed hers on top, intertwining their fingers together. 

Lena pulled a hand away from Kara and tugged on her shirt collar, motioning for her to scooch down. Their faces were right next to each other and her eyes fluttered shut, leaning in to kiss Kara. Kara made a disappointed groan from the back of her throat when Lena pulled away, and leaned in to kiss Lena again.

Lena’s mouth moved with Kara’s, her entire body felt like it was on fire. Before it got too heated, she placed her palms on Kara’s shoulders and pushed her back lightly. Kara settled back onto the couch with a sigh and she traced Lena’s side with a finger. Lena’s breathing calmed down and she wiggled closer to Kara to snuggle into her.

“Remember when I said I hated dancing because it was embarrassing?” Lena mumbled into Kara’s neck.

“Mhm…” Kara responded, pressing her forehead on Lena’s.

“Well, I’d do anything for you,” Lena whispered. “No matter what.”


	17. Chapter 17

Lena opened her eyes when she heard a knock on the door. She groaned, barely awake. She flipped herself so that she was lying on her back and she reflexively shut her eyes again from the bright sunlight coming through the window. She threw an arm across the bed and she remembered where she was when she didn’t recognize the texture of the bedsheet. 

She heard a louder knock on the door and she looked around for Kara but realized the shower was running in the bathroom. She debated whether or not she should answer the door but she finally decided she had nothing to lose.

Lena slowly got up from Kara’s bed and headed towards the door. A third knock made her walk faster. She opened the door and saw Alex standing on the other side, a hand raised as if she was about to knock again.

“Lena?” Alex blinked. 

“Um, good morning, Alex.” Lena stepped aside nervously to let her pass, her cheeks warm.

“You’re here earl-” Alex was about to comment but she realized Lena had on Kara’s clothes. A small satisfied sound escaped from her but Lena didn’t seem to notice.

Lena was straightening the National City University sweatshirt she had on and pointed to the bathroom, indicating that Kara was in there.

“Well, I brought a lot of breakfast. There’s enough for three.” Alex plopped down on the living room couch, reaching inside a paper bag for a donut. 

“Thanks.” Lena took a Danish pastry and sat down on a kitchen stool. “What are you doing here? It’s barely seven in the morning and it’s a Saturday.”

“Mm.” Alex swallowed before answering. “I wanted to come by earlier to talk to Kara about what we should do next about Lillian.”

Lena had forgotten about her mother after last night. She heard the water turn off in the bathroom and she turned her head as Kara stepped out of the bathroom.

Kara was staring at the floor, her hands furiously drying her hair with a towel. Lena glanced at Alex and they both suppressed a laugh. Kara was wearing a blue bathrobe with little ducks on them and she had on fluffy, white slippers. 

Kara finally looked up and did a double take. There was no doubt that she had expected Lena to still be asleep and that the living room would be empty. She had not expected her sister to be sitting cross-legged on her couch with a donut in hand. Then, she noticed Lena staring at her and she cleared her throat shyly when she remembered Lena was still wearing her clothes.

“Alex!” Kara exclaimed. “What…?”

“Morning.” Alex winked at her sister. “I got you breakfast.”

Kara’s eyes followed Alex’s finger to a paper bag that was sitting right next to Lena. 

As much as Alex wanted to tease them, she figured she shouldn’t. Yet.

Kara gave Lena an apologetic look when she slid onto the stool next to her. Lena smiled at her but Kara could tell she was embarrassed.

“What are you doing here so early?” Kara finally asked her sister, her mouth full of food.

“What?” Alex struggled to hear and turned to look at her.

“She was going to talk to you about Lillian.” Lena answered instead.

Alex was amazed at the fact that she could understand Kara but she nodded in agreement. 

“Oh, did something come up?” Kara reached further into the bag but came up empty handed. “Are you going to eat that?”

Lena passed her her half-eaten danish. “Go ahead.”

“Not really.” Alex wiped her mouth with a napkin. “But, now that Lena’s here, I have to ask if you know anything at all. You know her better than us.”

“Yeah, anything could help.” Kara agreed. 

“I barely know a fraction of her plan.” Lena said. “I just know that Lex and Lillian had planned to invade America and rebuild an entire society by enslaving everyone with the robots they asked me to make. But you knew that already.”

“Wait, how could she use the robots to do that? It’d have to be programmed in or something.” Alex asked.

Lena nodded, a wave of guiltiness washed over her. “I had programmed it so it connected to a headset. The headset reads the brain waves and brain activity and the robots can do anything that is commanded.”

Kara sensed her discomfort and reached over to rub her shoulder. “It’s going to be fine.”

“Maybe.” Lena was thankful for Kara’s support but she hesitated. “It still would be my fault if she succeeds.”

“Hey, don’t say that. Lillian’s choices aren’t yours. You made the robots, sure, but Lillian chose to use it.” Alex said sternly. “Don’t ever blame yourself.”

“She’s right.” Kara raised her eyebrows and gave her a signature smile. 

Lena patted Kara’s hand and turned to smile back. She blushed when she realized Alex was staring at them and she got up from her seat. 

“I have some work to do back at my lab. I need to further analyze the device they found in Sam’s eyes, see how my brother made it. I don’t know why Lillian would need it if she’s planning to use the robots but…” Lena cleared her throat. “Call if you need anything.”

Kara bit back a disappointed sigh and her eyes followed Lena’s every movement until she closed the apartment door behind her. 

“Kara.” Alex’s eyes were on her. “What in the world was that?”

Kara’s eyes shot up to look at her sister and her face flushed red. “What was what?”

“Don’t play dumb.” Alex shook her head. “Why was Lena here so early? And why was she wearing your college sweatshirt and those terribly short shorts? The same shorts you said you wouldn’t wear, even to the beach? I saw more than I bargained for, Kara.”

“Alex, what are you implying?” Kara giggled nervously, trying to appear oblivious.

“Wait, did she sleep here overnight?” Alex gasped loudly at the realization.

“That’s ridiculous!” Kara blushed even harder. “She needed a fresh change of clothes after being out in the rain last night.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “She did sleep here, then.”

Kara sighed. “She just happened to fall asleep here.”

Alex looked around the apartment. “Your bed clearly shows that two people had been sleeping on it.”

Kara followed her pointed finger and held back another awkward giggle. Alex was right. The blanket was gathered right in the middle of the queen-sized bed and it looked like it had been bunched up from both sides. 

“Fine!” Kara threw her hands up in the air in defeat. “We stayed on opposite sides the whole night. We’re friends.”

Alex groaned in disbelief when Kara shrugged casually, acting as if she didn’t just lie to her. 

“Okay, fine. Maybe we didn’t stay on opposite sides the whole night.” Kara admitted.

Alex raised her eyebrows and gasped again. “Oh my god, did you guys-”

“No!” Kara jumped up from her seat and started pacing. “No, we did not.”

“But you said-” Alex laughed at how flustered Kara was.

“I know what I said.” Kara snapped around to look at her. “I-I don’t know, Alex.”

Kara stopped pacing around and started tugging at her fingers. Alex had never seen her so nervous and flustered when talking about someone.

Alex grabbed her sister’s hand and dragged her to the couch. She crossed her legs and patted her own shoulder, motioning for Kara to place her head on it. Kara leaned down and sighed.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked softly. 

“I like her so much it hurts.” Kara’s voice broke but she swallowed it down. “I think I’ve been in love with her for years. I mean, I didn’t really know if I were but now I do. I didn’t know I could like someone so much for so long. I wish I figured it out sooner.”

Alex stroked her arm, comforting her and urging her to continue.

“She left before we could talk about it. I wanted to tell her last night but I didn’t want to ruin things. Lena looked so peaceful and happy.” Kara smiled when she remembered Lena sleeping calmly on top of her.

“Go get her, Kara.” Alex looked at her.

Kara frowned. “She’s busy right now and we need to go to the DEO. Lillian is still out there.”

“Kara,” Alex said, turning her whole body towards her sister. “Go get her. We’ll be fine without you for a few hours.”

Brainy paced from his computer to where Nia was standing, brows furrowed from thinking. Alex had finally been able to convince Kara to go to LCorp and had made her way to the DEO by noon. It had been nearly a day since they had last seen Lillian Luthor and the entire DEO had been on high alert for her again. Alex had filled the rest of the team in on everything they needed to know.

“Why would Lillian need Lex’s mind-control tech if she’s using the robots?” Nia asked.

“Lena wondered the same,” Alex said.

“Maybe one could be the backup to the other?” J’onn suggested.

“That’s possible but it’s Lillian,” Alex reminded them. “She’s an evil genius. She never has a plan B.” 

Brainy suddenly stopped moving and folded his hands, his face serious. “What if she needs the device to control someone else?”

“Like a new partner?” Nia wondered.

“Exactly. Even though she would deny ever needing Lex, a partner in crime would be helpful to her. This is a big and complicated plan. After Lex died, Lillian must’ve found someone else. Or maybe even more than one person.” Brainy explained.

“Oh my god.” Alex murmured.

“What?” Nia and Brainy said at the same time.

“What is it?” J’onn asked, concerned.

“What if it’s Metallo?” Alex exclaimed. 

They all internally shuddered from the name. Metallo had worked with Lillian Luthor a while ago when Lillian had started Project Cadmus. Almost two years ago, Kara had followed a few leads that led her to believe Lillian was behind the engineering project and she was horrified when she found a man with a chunk of Kryptonite in his chest instead of a heart. They had fought many times but the Kryptonite heart had almost always bested Kara. Even with backup, Metallo was hard to beat, especially when he had backup of his own. He just kept reappearing with more and more Kryptonite. After Lillian was caught and prosecuted for Project Cadmus, Metallo had disappeared but the DEO had always believed he was still alive.

“It could be,” J’onn agreed. “He was always coming back to Lillian because she always promised him more and more power. If Lillian made him a deal again, I doubt he’d say no.”

“Great.” Nia threw her hands into the air. “A guy with a Kryptonite heart that can’t be killed is back. Wonderful.”

Alex loosened up at her sarcasm. “If we stop Lillian, Metallo won’t be able to be revived again.”

“Could you be able to find Lillian through Metallo?” J’onn looked at Brainy.

He nodded. “It’s possible if they had been in contact recently. It is much easier to track down such a large Kryptonite signature.”

“Great,” Alex said, relieved. “We actually have a lead.”

“Hey, Jess.” Kara greeted Lena’s secretary. “Is Lena in her office?”

“Hey, Kara.” Jess smiled back at her sweetly. “Yep, go on in. Her schedule is open today.”

Kara nodded in thanks and knocked on Lena’s door twice before walking in. Lena was standing on her balcony with her back to her. She had changed into her usual office clothes and Kara noticed her sweatshirt and shorts were neatly folded on the couch.

Lena turned around when she heard the door open and she froze. She hadn’t expected to see Kara walking towards her. She had left Kara’s apartment to work in her lab but she couldn’t seem to focus so she headed upstairs to finish up some paperwork. Again, she couldn’t seem to focus so she walked out onto her balcony. She thought about all the times that she had stood there, arms crossed, waiting to see if Supergirl would fly by. 

They looked at each other for a minute, neither of them saying anything. Kara was standing right in front of Lena, playing with her fingers and noticing how fuzzy she felt.

“Sorry for leaving.” Lena squeaked before Kara could say anything.

Kara slammed into her, pressing her lips on Lena’s. They leaned into each other, both of them breathing heavily. Lena’s hand rose up to caress the back of Kara’s head and Kara’s hands were placed on the small of Lena’s back. Lena wanted to pull back so she could explain how awkward it was for her that morning but the taste of Kara cut off her train of thought. Kara refused to let her pull away and she pressed against her even harder. Her hands ran along Lena’s back, itching for more, but they had to eventually break away to catch their breath.

Kara’s chest heaved and she licked her lips nervously, looking at Lena. Lena was breathing just as heavily and she smiled when she saw Kara’s messed up hair.

“I came to talk to you.” Kara calmed down enough to say.

“There wasn’t much talking.” Lena raised an eyebrow teasingly.

Kara’s face grew hot and she sputtered. “That wasn’t very professional, was it Ms. 

Luthor?”

They were standing directly in front of each other, their bodies two inches apart, and 

Lena’s voice became a low growl when she answered. “No, it wasn’t.”

Kara leaned in again and their mouths moved together passionately. She walked forward, pushing Lena backwards, and Lena’s back hit the balcony railing. When Kara pressed Lena harder against the railing, Lena felt a warmth growing in her stomach. Her own body heat spread over her body and she gasped into the kiss in surprise. Lena’s rosy perfume swarmed around Kara and her lips parted slightly in response. Lena groaned, yearning for more, and closed her lips around Kara’s again. Kara shuddered when Lena’s hands made their way under her shirt and landed on her toned stomach, the heat from Lena driving her insane. Lena didn’t remove them until after she pulled away from Kara.

“I had so much I wanted to say before I got here but I can’t find the right words.” Kara said, looking into Lena’s sharp green eyes. 

“Forget the words.” Lena joked. “Actions speak louder than words.”

Kara laughed and buried her face into the crook of Lena’s neck. Lena wrapped her arms around Kara and ran her fingers up and down her back slowly, taking in the feeling. They stayed like that for seconds, maybe minutes, hoping the moment won’t end.

“I love you so much.” Kara whispered, her warm breath tickling Lena’s ear.

Lena’s heart fluttered and her head spun. A million thoughts rushed through her head, taken by surprise. The light breeze made the hair on her neck stand up but it calmed her enough to snap her back to the moment.

“I love you.” Lena finally said, placing her forehead on Kara’s. “I always had.”


	18. Chapter 18

Lena and Kara jumped when they heard a knock on Lena’s office door and they pulled away from each other when someone pushed it open.

They stood apart with nervous expressions on their faces and watched as Jess looked towards Lena’s empty desk in confusion before she noticed them standing outside on the balcony. At first, Lena was afraid that she had caught them but she let out a sigh of relief when Jess only pointed to her watch. 

Lena had forgotten that she had told Jess to remind her when it was one in the afternoon so that she could actually do some work down in her lab. She mouthed to her secretary that she got the memo. Jess looked between Lena and Kara a couple of times before dismissing herself.

“What was that about?” Kara asked, her hand on her cheek to try to hide the fact that she was still blushing. 

“I need to figure out how to reverse engineer the mind-control device Lex put in Sam’s eyes. Jess just came to remind me to get back down to the lab.” Lena explained.

They both missed Sam even though they hadn’t gotten to know each other much. After the whole Reign situation, she had gone back home to Metropolis. They still kept in touch but she hadn’t been back in National City since.

“Oh.” Kara sounded disappointed.

Lena took her hand and Kara smiled as their fingers intertwined. Lena reached over with her other hand and readjusted Kara’s shirt collar. Kara took in a sharp breath as Lena’s fingers accidentally brushed over her collar bone.

“You probably have some DEO business to deal with.” Lena reminded her. “I’ll see you later.”

Kara leaned over and kissed Lena on the cheek. “That’s a promise.”

They reluctantly let go of each other’s hand but they knew they both had work to do. Lena watched as Kara walked out of her office and she smiled when Kara glanced back at her a few times and winked. When Kara finally left, she caught a glimpse of the clothes on her couch and she walked over to pick it up. She brought it up to her nose and whiffed in the mix of her and Kara’s scent. 

“Let’s hope she doesn’t notice that I still have it.” She said to herself.

Kara’s face dropped when the others filled her in about Metallo. 

“We think it’s him.” J’onn reminded her. “It might not be.”

Most of Kara’s fights with Metallo had left her under the yellow sun light in the DEO medical ward for hours. 

Alex glanced at her sister curiously. She was the first one to see Kara when she landed at the desert facility but she never got the chance to ask her how it went with Lena. The look on Kara’s face said it all.

“Got it!” Brainy suddenly jumped up from excitement. 

A few agents looked over when his chair hit the floor with a loud thud but Alex gave them a stern look and they got back to work.

“Got what?” Kara asked.

“Brainy had been trying to track Metallo down for a while and he was frustrated when he couldn’t find anything.” J’onn explained.

“Very frustrated.” Nia added, rolling her eyes.

“Well, yes.” Brainy ignored them. “I finally found him. It wasn’t easy. He hadn’t appeared in National City for a while. His last known appearance was months ago and I had to look through all of the records and-”

“Brainy, get to the point.” Alex sighed. 

“Right.” He apologized. “I found a large Kryptonite signature there.”

The rest of the team gathered around the computer screen and looked at where he was pointing. A bright red light was blinking on the satellite map.

“This was from two weeks ago but I also found a signature there from a month ago so I assume it was their safe house. If it’s consistent, he’s still there.” Brainy continued. “Most likely.”

“And it’s possible that Lillian is also there?” Kara asked.

“Yes.” Brainy confirmed. “I’m positive that she is working with him there. It is no coincidence that Metallo had appeared in National City again.”

“Wait, a month ago?” Alex piped in. “Lex was still alive then.”

“Alex is right.” J’onn said. “Why would Lillian get him back to National City before Lex was dead?”

“Hm, that I do not know.” Brainy’s eyebrows came together, no doubt upset that he hadn’t thought of that. 

“Maybe Lillian did have a plan B for if Lex betrayed her or tossed her aside.” Kara said. 

“Yes, that could be it.” Brainy looked down at the floor, his eyebrows still furrowed.

It wasn’t usual for Brainy to act like that and everyone looked at him with concern but it only made him more embarrassed.

“The reason doesn’t matter.” Nia said, attempting to make Brainy feel better. 

“Yeah, Nia’s right. The important thing is that we found Metallo.” Kara added quickly. “Thanks to Brainy.”

Brainy glanced up and smiled shyly. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Do we have a plan? Or are you just going to show up and punch the bad guys like usual?” Nia asked Kara.

Kara motioned to her family crest on her Supergirl outfit excitedly. “I’m well protected.”

“Thanks to Lena.” Alex said. 

Kara’s ears turned pink when she realized Alex figured it out and was teasing her. Refusing to let her sister get to her, she smiled and knocked on the Kryptonite shield. 

Alex muttered something under her breath and rolled her eyes.

“We’re all coming with.” Nia interrupted. “You need backup.”

J’onn nodded. “We’re short Maggie and Lena right now but you still have us to have your back.”

Brainy held his hands up. “Count me out. I’m staying here with my computer, safe from all of the violence. I’ll be on coms.”

Lena adjusted her microscope and squinted into the lens. She used small tweezers and rearranged the tiny parts of Lex’s device that she had just taken apart. She had no problem remembering the structure of the device but the size of it was hurting her eyes and she had to lean back every ten minutes.

She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands and she blinked back the flashing colors. Lena had almost finished reverse-engineering the device the DEO had found in Sam, but she knew enough that she could confirm it was definitely used to mind-control Reign.

“Lex probably needed to control Reign so he had two powerful weapons to destroy Supergirl with.” She muttered to herself, leaning back into the microscope. “If Lillian still had the blueprints to this, she could control everyone without the robots.”

Lena was putting the device back together when her phone rang. She was so focused that she jumped and the tweezers nicked her finger. She cursed under her breath but her irritation disappeared when she saw who was calling her.

“Hey.” Kara whispered into her phone.

“Hi.” Lena answered, dropping a tweezer onto the floor by accident.

“What was that?” Kara’s voice was suddenly concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was nothing.” Lena leaned down to pick it up. “Did something happen at the DEO?”

Kara was a little offended that Lena thought she only called for work but she realized Lena had probably been stressing out about finding her mother. Kara felt a squeeze in her chest when she thought about how hard it must be for her and she hated that she wasn’t with her.

“Um, not really.” Kara finally answered. “I mean, we have a lead.”

“Let me guess,” Lena said. “Lillian had been working with someone other than Lex.”

Kara was surprised. “How’d you know?”

Lena shrugged in response but realized that Kara couldn’t see her. “I figured she must have another partner if Lex was gone. There’s no way she could pull this off by herself.”

She told Kara about what she had found out about the mind-control device but Kara already knew most of it. She wasn’t surprised that it didn’t take Lena long to reverse-engineer it.

“Yeah, we figured that Lillian must be using it to control her partner.” Kara added. 

Lena agreed. “I don’t think she will use it on everyone, though. Remember when Sam said she completely blacked out for months?”

“Yeah. Did you find out if the device caused it?” Kara questioned.

“Yep. It definitely did.” Lena confirmed. “And knowing my mother, she won’t use it on civilians for that reason. She wants people to know how powerful she is, to traumatize them. If she uses this device to control everyone, they won’t remember her reign of terror.”

“Is there any way that she could’ve adjusted how the device works?” Kara winced at how unscientific she sounded. “I mean, could she have changed it so that it wouldn’t black out memories?”

Lena looked towards her work on the metal table. “I hadn’t really found anything about that. It might be possible but I doubt she’d spend time doing that when I already made her the robots.”

Kara could hear the disappointment in Lena’s voice. “Hey, don’t stress about it. Let me know when you’re sure.” Kara tried to reassure her. “I called to let you know that we think Lillian’s partner is Metallo and we’re about to look for him.”

Lena frowned into her phone. She remembered when Metallo first appeared with her mother and she felt a chill. She knew Kara’s memories of him were much worse compared to hers.

“By yourself?” Lena sounded concerned. 

“No, they all insisted they’d come with me.” She answered and Lena heard Brainy in the background shouting that he insisted to stay away from it instead.

“They better.” Lena said. “Still, send me the address. I want to know where you are. Just in case.”

Kara smiled, almost jumping up and down from joy, when she realized Lena wanted to make sure she was safe. “I will.”

“Stay safe, please.” Lena let out a small breath. “Promise me.”

“I promise.” Kara whispered softly.

J’onn landed softly next to Nia and Kara in front of a large warehouse that was painted a light yellow. Alex ran in after him, breathing heavily.

“You could’ve waited for me.” Alex panted, glaring at the three of them. “I was zipping up my boot and you were gone. How’d you get here so fast?”

Nia laughed when she realized Alex was directing her question at her. 

“Maybe you’re just slow.” Kara turned to look at her and smiled teasingly.

“Very funny,” Alex muttered under her breath.

“No one’s here.” Nia pointed out. 

“You’re wrong about that.” A deep voice rang out and the four of them turned.

There was no sign of anyone in and out of the warehouse but their voice kept echoing.

“Ah, it was fun while it lasted.” They heard a bang and turned to see Metallo in the middle of the warehouse. 

“How…?” Nia asked Kara quietly but she shook her head.

“Where is Lillian Luthor?” Alex demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Metallo laughed and slowly made his way towards them.

“You’re outnumbered.” Kara warned.

He laughed again, his tone very clearly mocking her. He hummed a happy tune and pointed behind them. They turned around to see his minions glaring at them with weapons in hand.

“Think again, Supergirl.” One of them said.

The Super Team was now outnumbered four to two dozen. Their eyes glowed a bright green and Kara knew Lillian was controlling them. 

“Their eyes…” Alex noted. 

“Yeah, poor things. They have no idea what they’re doing and they won’t even remember butchering a few people.” Metallo shook his head as if he actually felt bad for them. “Anyway, any last words?”

Alex glared at him, disgusted by his ego, and charged at the biggest guy in the crowd. J’onn and Nia followed, blasting them one by one. Kara was left, having an intense staredown with Metallo, and she sighed.

“Here we go again.” She said to herself. 

Metallo ripped open his grey t-shirt in one swift motion and the green glare of the Kryptonite reflected over every shiny surface in the place. Kara let out a big sigh of relief when she didn’t feel any pain, knowing Lena had once again saved her life. She frowned when she saw that he had more Kryptonite on him than the last time. All of the Kryptonite in National City was supposed to have been destroyed and Lena was the only one who knew how to make it. She had no idea how Lillian managed to get her hands on it.

Metallo’s cocky smile wavered when he realized that Kara wasn’t screaming in pain.

“I see.” He said. “Kryptonite shield. I’m going to guess that Lena Luthor made it?”

Kara didn’t respond.

“So it’s probably hard to destroy.” Metallo scratched his chin. “Hm, that does make this harder.”

She had enough and charged with her super speed. Somehow, he was able to dodge it.

“New upgrade, baby!” Metallo howled in laughter. “I’m pretty much indestructible, too. They injected me with a weird blue liquid but I’m still alive. I call that a win.”

Kara reached the back wall of the warehouse and pushed herself off, increasing her speed. This time, she was able to knock Metallo off his feet.

“Okay, haven’t really gotten the hang of the ‘fast on my feet’ thing.” He rubbed the back of his head and stood up slowly. 

Kara could hear the battle behind her and she forced herself to ignore the sounds so she could focus on Metallo. She realized Lillian must’ve promised him more upgrades and she silently thanked Lena for giving her the shield. She would've been dead if she didn’t have it.

She activated her heat vision and Metallo had to dive out of the way. He dodged the rays, jumping behind metal containers and pillars. He managed to throw two steel canisters in her direction and she held up her arms to shield her face when green mist erupted from them. She coughed and she felt her skin burn. 

“Lillian found a way to make Kryptonite into a gas.” Metallo heaved, tired from running around.

Kara collapsed to her knees and she didn’t seem to have any of her powers. The shield that Lena had made only protected her body from any solid Kryptonite. Kara breathed in the infected air and nothing could’ve stopped it. Her veins turned green and she winced when the pain reached her skin. She wanted to scream when she realized Lillian cheated Lena’s system.

She heard a loud thump and she turned her head to the left. She saw J’onn holding out his hand and she took it, slowly getting to her feet. Twenty feet away was Metallo, knocked out cold.

“Supergirl,” J’onn said. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. The mist had dissipated and she felt her strength start to come back. J’onn noticed her confused expression and realized she hadn’t seen him throw a pillar onto him.

“I kind of knocked him out.” J’onn said casually. 

Kara laughed, but then she saw that her sister was still fighting off mind-controlled minions. She flew towards Alex with J’onn behind her, and delivered a painful punch to the face of whoever was still standing. 

Alex’s chest heaved, breathing heavily. “I had that.”

“Totally.” Kara patted her sister on the back. 

They all heard Metallo groan and they watched as he easily lifted the pillar off of his body.

“That wasn’t very nice.” He winced when he tried to get up.

Kara slowly walked over to him when she realized he couldn’t stand. Her eyes stayed on him as she approached and she smiled at him when he tried to get up again but failed, falling onto all fours.

Kara held up a fist. “Where is Lillian?”

Metallo grinned and grimaced from the pain. “You’re not getting that out of me.”

She pulled back her fist, aiming for his Kryptonite heart. 

“Woah, woah.” Metallo tried to hold up a hand in defeat. “All I can tell you is that she plans to kill every single one of you.”

Kara dropped her arm, waiting for him to continue.

“She wants to invade this country and control everyone with those hideous bots but she can’t do that if you’re all still alive. Her first step is to eliminate you but I don’t know how she’s going to do it. After America, it’s all of the countries. One after the other.” Metallo explained, pleading for his life. “Please.”

Kara stepped back, motioning for Alex to cuff him so they could bring him back to the facility. She turned to look at him when she suddenly heard a yell.

Metallo’s Kryptonite heart was glowing dangerously bright. He screamed out in pain and Kara realized that Lillian had been listening the whole time.

“Please.” Metallo begged, tears pouring down his face.

The trio stepped backwards simultaneously, shocked that Lillian had so much control over him. Kara was more surprised that Lillian would just kill him. It should’ve been obvious that Lillian had planned to kill the team, obvious enough that she shouldn’t have to kill Metallo for betraying her.

“She must’ve been afraid that he would say more.” Alex whispered.

“We have to get out of here.” Kara pulled J’onn and Alex backwards. “Now.”

Metallo’s heart flickered twice and he screamed. The three of them made it a few dozen yards outside of the warehouse before he exploded and brought down the entire building with him. 

The sound of the explosion sent a sharp pain through Alex’s ears and she yelled out. She brought her hand up to her ear and she came away with blood, but that was it. The blast barely sent them flying, pushing the three of them into the wet soil.


	19. Chapter 19

Maggie ran past a dozen agents, nearly knocking down half of them. She almost bumped into Brainy but he held her steady.

“Where is Alex?” Maggie demanded.

Brainy led her to the medical ward and gave Kara a weird look. He never got used to human relationships and he was still confused about how dating worked. Kara waved him away and gave him an apologetic smile. Maggie could get very protective of Alex.

“Jesus, Alex.” Maggie said, fidgeting with Alex’s head to look at her bandaged ears.

“I’m fine, babe.” Alex insisted. “Really.”

Maggie sighed and settled next to her, kissing her girlfriend on the forehead. 

Alex, Kara, and J’onn had been caught up in an explosion but they weren’t hurt badly. Still, the DEO insisted they should check into the medical ward. 

“We can go now, right?” Kara asked Maggie.

She had tried to check them all out twice before but was unsuccessful. It didn’t matter that the three of them were the bosses. The agents cared about them like family and they were strict about having the doctors check up on them every time they get injured, no matter how lightly.

Maggie looked between the three of them and saw that they weren’t hurt too bad. “Fine.”

Kara jumped out of her bed and basically ran for the door. J’onn slowly got up but realized that he was unwanted in the room and quickly followed Kara out of the room.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Maggie turned to look at her girlfriend. 

Alex nodded and held her hand. “I promise I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” Maggie said guiltily.

“Are you kidding?” Alex turned to look at her. “You were at work. This city needs you more than you know.”

Maggie smiled at her. “I love you, future wife.”

Alex bopped her on the nose, standing up. “Come on, I can’t wait to get out of here.”

“Where are you going?” J’onn called after Kara.

She glanced back at him briefly but didn’t stop. “It’s past seven and there’s nothing for me to do here.”

J’onn stood there, wondering how that answered his question at all. “We haven’t found Lillian yet!”

“The DEO is on it. There’s nothing I can do!” Kara yelled before flying off into the cool evening. 

She knew that finding Lillian Luthor was still the DEO’s top priority but she also knew that she couldn’t do anything about it. The mission was now in the hands of the tech-savvy people in the building.

She got to LCorp within a minute and she hovered outside Lena’s window for a while. Kara hadn’t told Lena about what had happened at the location and she knew Lena had been too busy to call her about it. She didn’t want her to worry and stress about a few bruises. 

Kara watched as Lena got up from her chair, and she took in a sharp breath when Lena took out her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair. Lena leaned against her desk in deep thought and her hand reached for her phone. At the last second, she snatched back her hand as if it would’ve burned her.

“Lena.” Kara said, making her way into Lena’s office through the open balcony doors. 

Lena whipped her head around and her eyes instantly softened when she saw Kara. She almost lost her balance when she rushed to her because of her ridiculously high heels but Kara wrapped her up into a hug before she stumbled. 

“Kara, what happened?” Lena pulled away and looked her up and down.

Kara had forgotten that she smelled like grass and that her hair still had specks of dirt in it. She told her what they had found at the location that Brainy found and how Metallo exploded in front of her. She left out some parts but Lena knew she was hiding something.

“Kara, what aren’t you telling me?” Lena pushed, her voice becoming more stern.

“It’s nothing really…” Kara didn’t want Lena to feel like she had disappointed her. 

“Kara.” Lena reached out with a finger and tilted Kara’s chin up so that Kara would look at her.

“Lillian found out how to make Kryptonite into a gas and I got hurt by it.” Kara finally said.

Lena staggered back a step, surprised. She felt a stab in her chest, feeling terribly guilty that she hadn’t done everything she could to keep Kara safe.

“It wasn’t bad, though.” Kara said quickly. “Your shield helped me a lot. But gas is just… there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Lena nodded but she was still a little doubtful. Knowing her, Kara knew that Lena would probably spend days in her lab to try to come up with a solution. 

“And Metallo did mention something about Lillian’s plan.” Kara added.

Lena looked up at her again when she noticed a change in Kara’s tone. She listened grimly as Kara told her how her mother was planning to destroy all of her friends and then destroy the balance of the world.

“Isn’t she great?” Lena said sarcastically.

“Lena, it’s going to be fine.” Kara tried to sound more optimistic than she felt.

“She needs to be stopped.” Lena’s voice grew desperate. “Killed.”

Kara tried to meet her eyes but Lena was staring at her feet. “Lena.”

When she didn’t respond, Kara pulled her into another hug. Lena’s head fell onto her shoulder and Kara felt the dampness of her tears through her suit. She wrapped her arms tighter around her and she closed her eyes, listening to Lena’s steady heart beat. 

“Go out with me.” Kara suddenly spoke up.

That was enough to get Lena to look up at her. “What?”

“Right now.” Kara explained. “It’ll be our first date.”

“What?” Lena repeated, still shocked.

“You deserve it, Lena. You deserve to relax and be taken care of and treated the way you deserve.” Kara clarified. “Will you go out with me?”

Lena searched Kara’s clear blue eyes and she realized she was dead serious. Her own eyes twinkled as she nodded in excitement.

Without warning, Kara swooped her into her arms and flew out of the window. Lena closed her eyes and clung to Kara tightly, grounding herself by focusing on Kara’s body heat. She smiled into Kara’s neck as she felt Kara’s muscles strain as Kara tightened her grip.

Lena felt Kara land and she slowly opened her eyes. She was met with a surprise kiss and she leaned into it, not wanting to let go. Kara was still carrying her and her head spun when she made contact with Kara’s soft lips. 

“Lena.” Kara smiled into their kiss and she tried to break it but Lena kept leaning back in. Kara gave in for a while, their mouths moving in sync.

“Lena.” Kara laughed and was finally able to pull away.

Kara put her down and Lena realized they were at least thirty stories up. She could see the skyline of National City from here and she took in the warm breeze that blew her hair across her face. She looked around at the sky, taking in the beauty of the sun disappearing along the horizon. At first, she didn’t realize where she was.

“Oh.” Lena suddenly remembered and she gasped.

“Where we first met as a Super and a Luthor.” Kara nodded and she linked their arms. “Well, as close as we can get, anyway.”

They had met more than two years ago right above this very spot. Lena had been in a crashing helicopter, thanks to her brother, and Supergirl had come to save the day. It was the first time Lena had laid eyes on Supergirl.

Lena closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh evening air. Kara rested her chin on her shoulder and mumbled peacefully.

“I remember.” Lena whispered.

She turned and took Kara’s hands. It dropped in between them and she leaned in. Kara’s eyes fluttered close and she welcomed Lena’s lips. This kiss was slow, both of them savoring each other’s taste. Their last few kisses had been passionate and hungry but this time, they fell into it. Lena blocked out the city noises and it felt like time stopped. Her senses focused on Kara and Kara only. 

Kara’s heart was pounding against her chest and she didn’t think about anything other than how soft Lena’s lips felt against hers. Their lips parted for a brief second so they could come up for air but they crashed gently back onto each other almost immediately. Kara’s entire body was tingling all over and she broke the kiss when she realized she was floating about two inches off the ground. She immediately dropped back onto the roof and turned a deep shade of red from embarrassment.

Lena almost didn’t notice. Her entire face was flushed from the kiss. Her green eyes were wide and her chest rose up and down steadily, trying to calm her pounding heart.

“Did you just float into the air?” Lena asked, trying to suppress a giggle.

Kara blushed even harder. “Um, yeah. I guess so.”

Lena couldn’t stop herself and she let out a small laugh. “It’s cute.”

Kara’s ears turned pinker. She reached up to adjust the loose strands of hair blowing across her face, letting out a nervous giggle. Suddenly, she perked up as if she had just remembered something important.

“Hold on.” In a flash, Kara disappeared into the night.

Within a minute, Kara was back, taking Lena by surprise. Lena had been staring off in the direction that Kara flew off in and her mind wandered off, reliving every moment and kiss they had shared. She jumped when Kara appeared right next to her, interrupting her daydreams.

“Sorry that took so long. I was trying to find all of your favorite foods.” Kara said shyly, gesturing to all of the food she had laid out on a picnic blanket in the middle of the roof. 

Lena’s mouth hung open when she saw that she wasn’t lying. Her favorite foods from all over the world were gathered in the same place. Kara took her hand and pulled her over to the plates of food she had bought.

“Kara, you didn’t have to.” Lena insisted but she couldn’t contain her excitement.

Kara giggled. She knew the extra effort would make Lena happy and it made her heart feel full when she saw how excited Lena was.

“It was nothing.” Kara smiled wider. “It took longer than I had thought, though. There are very long lines in Italy.”

Lena laughed, truly laughed, but she stopped when she saw Kara look at her.

“What?” Lena asked, brushing her hand over her face. “Do I have something on me?”

Kara shook her head, still gazing at her. “You’re really pretty. Did you know that? I feel like you don’t hear it enough. You’re really beautiful, Lena.”

Lena met her eyes. She felt a tug in her chest and she really thought that her heart would explode out of her chest. For the first time, she realized that Kara had always looked at her like that. Kara always looked at her with so much love in her eyes but Lena never knew until now because she just realized she always looked at Kara in the same exact way. 

“You really mean that?” Lena said.

“Of course I do.” Kara said, matter-of-factly. “You’re literally the definition of every positive thing in this world. It truly trumps out all of the negative.”

Lena put down her dinner and stared at Kara. “That’s a very nice compliment.”

Kara’s breath hitched as she watched Lena move closer to her. They were facing each other, inches apart.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Kara whispered.

Lena pushed Kara down so that Kara was on her back and Lena wriggled around so that she could straddle her. She leaned down again and met Kara’s opened mouth halfway. They both started breathing harder, the incredible sensation from their touch driving them crazy. Lena’s elegant black hair draped over the left side of her face and Kara’s hand was tangled in it, pulling her face closer. Lena caressed Kara’s face with both of her hands but they slowly slid downwards and reached inside her shirt. The heat from Kara’s sides sent a tingling sensation down her spine and she kissed her harder, desperate for the warmth. 

Kara could feel Lena’s stomach press onto hers and she breathed harder when she realized that Lena’s shirt had risen up, revealing her pale stomach. Her free hand traced downwards, stopping at the top of Lena’s pants but she moved them upwards so that she was holding onto her waist. Lena removed one of her hands from Kara’s smooth side and placed it right below her collar bones, bunching up the fabric of Kara’s shirt. 

Kara let out a disappointed moan when Lena finally pulled away. Lena’s face glistened with sweat and she looked like she had done more than make out with someone. Half of her hair was plastered against the back of her neck and the other half was standing up all over the place. Her shirt was lopsided and a button had popped open. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to make it neater, but her eyes still had a wild look in them. 

“Kara.” Lena spoke and her voice was still shaky even though she tried to get herself under control.

Kara was confused at first but then she realized they were floating a foot above the ground. She readjusted them and giggled nervously, the heat coming back to her cheeks.

“Again?” Lena asked, an eyebrow raised.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KATIE MCGRATH HAS AN AUDIO BOOK OUT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Kara felt a loud blast right by her head and she jolted awake, blinking hard to refocus her eyes. Another loud noise made her jump and her elbow slammed into hard ground. She yelped out in surprise and woke Lena up.

The next blast nearly took Kara off her feet but she quickly steadied herself and grabbed Lena. Looking at the night sky, Kara realized it was probably well past midnight. Lena’s eyes were halfway closed like she wanted to go back to sleep.

“Lena!” Kara shook her.

She was still a little groggy but she blinked it away. Kara pulled her along for cover and they ducked out of the way when they were shot at again. Yellow sparks flew out into the air and reflected off of the moonlight. Kara quickly changed into her suit, thankful that Lena had upgraded it to nanotech again. She tried to turn and fly Lena off to safety first but the shots kept coming, so all she could do was run.

They were nearly at the door but they paused when the sounds faded. Kara squinted through the smokey air and saw a shadow standing in front of them, waiting for them to approach. Kara held an arm out in front of Lena, placing herself between the both of them, and waited for the smoke to go away.

“Lena, dear.” Lillian Luthor stepped out of the shadows, smiling coldly at her daughter. “You didn’t tell me you were dating Kara Danvers.”

Lena fidgeted shyly but she held her ground. She was completely awake now and she glared at her mother. Kara glanced back at her as if she was waiting for Lena to make a snarky comment but she stayed silent.

“Lena, get out of here.” Kara sounded desperate and she stood in a fighting stance, ready to take on her mother.

Before Lena could protest, Lillian reached into her coat and brought out a glowing head piece. She placed it on her head slowly, just for dramatic effect, and a loud robotic sound echoed through the air. 

Kara and Lena watched as a robot appeared behind Lillian. Kara wanted to laugh at the size of it but that feeling disappeared almost instantly. The little robot creaked and its head opened. The other robots decompressed themselves one by one as they came out of it. 

Lena glanced at Kara for a second, and Kara knew she felt guilty.

“That’s impressive,” Kara whispered to Lena, trying to make her feel better.

Lena looked down at her feet shyly. She thought Kara would’ve been at least annoyed when Lillian finally appeared with the robots she had built. Lena definitely didn’t expect her to praise her for it.

Lillian seemed confused at her daughter’s expression and stepped forward. Kara shielded Lena reflexively. She racked her brain for ideas, knowing that fighting off all those robots meant leaving Lena vulnerable. All she could do was hope that Brainy was trying to trace Lillian and that the DEO would get here before Lillian killed them.

Lillian held out her arms and stood still for a moment, t-posing. Kara’s heat vision was activated, ready to attack. She heard a small noise that sounded like scraping metal. Suddenly, something black slammed into Lillian and covered her entire body. 

The chunk of metal looked like a badly designed Iron Man suit, but even more intimidating. The face was made to look like Lillian’s and Lena felt a chill when she looked into the eyes. It reminded her of how hollow Lillian’s eyes looked whenever she yelled at Lena when she was younger.

“Surprise.” Lillian’s voice sounded like a deep growl from through the suit. 

Kara felt a panic, looking between Lillian and the two dozen robots in front of her. She somehow knew there was more, and she didn’t even know how she could defeat them by herself.

Lena’s face paled, recognizing the piece of weaponized metal. Lex had shown her the blueprints of that suit years before he died, promising her that when he finished it she would be the second person to try it out. After him, of course. He told her he had given up on the project after a couple of months. He looked so disappointed that Lena had believed him.

“Lena, please go.” Kara turned to look at her, letting her guard down for a second. 

That second was enough for Lillian. In a flash, she leapt forward and punched Kara in the face hard enough to get her to drop to the ground. 

Lena backtracked, her hands fumbled for something in her pockets, but Lillian seemed to ignore her completely. She would’ve rolled her eyes, thinking that her mother had forgotten her again, but a few of the robots left the fight with Kara and turned to look at her. She snapped out of her trance and sprinted, dodging the blasts. The robots were faster than she was and one of the shots grazed her shoulder. 

Lena dodged behind the roof’s mechanical room. She yelled out in pain as she dropped to her knees and a hand shot up to touch the wound. She winced when her finger made contact with the burned skin and she nearly fainted when she felt flesh. Tears burned her eyes but she blinked them away forcefully. She put her hand back into her pocket and she finally came out with glowing spheres. They were so small that it almost rolled off her palm. Still clenching her teeth, she got up. She immediately fell back down when the robots started firing again. She tried to stay hidden but the bots found her within seconds. She forced herself onto her feet again, running out of the way. The robots gained on her quickly and they all simultaneously fired a shot. She tried to pick up her pace and she was able to avoid getting hit directly, hitting the ground right behind her instead. The impact threw her to the ground and she slammed a knee onto the ground. 

Lena yelled out in pain so loudly that Kara heard her from the other side of the roof. Kara clenched her jaw in anger and focused on her fight with Lillian even more intensely. 

Lena cursed loudly and stayed still on the ground, waiting for the robots to come forward. When she saw that they were right in front of her, she took aim and pelted them with the spheres she had taken out of her pockets. They were all easy shots and she hit them all from pointblank. The spheres made contact with the metal and stuck to them. Within seconds, all six of them froze up and static flowed through them. Lena let out a huge sigh of relief as the robots collapsed onto the roof, but her relieved smile faded when she heard six more decompressing themselves.

Kara kept the original robot in the corner of her eye, anticipating its every move. She heard commotion in the background and her eyes flickered over to Lena to make sure she wasn’t hurt too badly. She hadn’t been too into this fight after hearing Lena yell out and she paid for being distracted. She was able to shake Lena out of her mind for a while and she countered Lillian’s attacks easily. Another loud clang made her turn her head towards Lena and she saw that at least ten of the robots were at Lena’s feet.

Lillian was able to knock Kara into the air while she was distracted. Kara grunted and refocused her attention on Lillian and her power suit. She quickly readjusted herself and was about to charge when Lillian’s suit made a clicking sound. The L crest on Lillian’s suit disappeared and a green glow replaced it. She fired out the Kryptonite and the impact pushed back Kara a few feet but she was still standing. The force was more than she had ever felt but she was still alive, thanks to the Kryptonite shield Lena made her. For a second, Kara felt how strong the Kryptonite was and was afraid that the shield would crack but it didn’t. Still, holding up against so much force slowly drained her and her next attack was far from what she wanted.

Kara activated her heat vision and it hit Lillian’s chest but she barely budged. She zoomed by her multiple times, trying to confuse her. Lillian stumbled a bit from the weight of her suit in the confusion. Suddenly, Kara hit her with so much force that it dented the metal. Lillian shot through the air and slammed into the ground. Kara heard her groan and she let out a small sigh, hoping she would stay down. She was horrified when she saw that dozens more robots had appeared behind her. She started to fire them down but more and more kept popping up, coming out faster than she could destroy them. Kara managed to take out nearly half of the robots but many were able to dodge her attacks. 

Lena glanced over at Lillian and smiled when she saw that she was lying on the ground. She didn’t catch a glimpse at Kara, having to turn back to the robots in front of her. She had been able to hold them off from killing her but she was running out of spheres. The last one made a depressing groan and fell face down, sparks flying out of it in defeat. She leaned back onto her elbows, calming her breathing. She had ignored the pain from her injuries up until now, the adrenaline washing away. 

“Lena!” Kara screamed from thirty feet away. 

Lena jumped to her feet, wincing from the sharp pain she felt in her knee. Her mouth hung open in shock when she saw Kara hopelessly fighting off at least a hundred robots. She realized Kara was warning her when she saw a generous handful of them making their way towards her. She reached into her pockets but they were empty. Lena stepped backwards in fear, almost tripping over one of the robots on the ground. She tried to run but her banged up knee refused to cooperate. Within seconds, she was cornered. 

Kara resorted to her famous thunder clap and all of the robots she was fighting dropped to the ground. She turned to check up on Lena, meeting her eyes. They had a sort of silent argument. Lena knew that Kara would do everything to save her, but the look on her face told Kara there were more important things to do instead. Kara blinked back tears and shook her head sharply. 

Lena was about to protest silently when Kara suddenly went flying. Lillian had gotten to her feet somehow and charged at her. Kara felt dazed but she focused on the calming city sounds in the night. She didn’t hear any of the robots move yet. She felt a sense of relief when she remembered that Lena was still alive but it vanished when she realized she wouldn’t be soon. 

Lillian charged again, taking advantage of a confused Kara, and aimed straight for the crest on her suit. She flew through the air with Kara in her arms and she punched the Kryptonite shield repeatedly. Kara tried to wrestle her way free but she struggled, even with her super strength. Lillian’s suit was much stronger than she originally thought. She felt Lillian punch the same spot on the shield a few more times with her metal fist and she heard a tiny crack. Kara finally managed to wriggle away and she punched Lillian square in the chest. She heard a much louder crack and Lillian fell back onto the roof, denting it. 

Kara glanced down at her chest and a feeling of guilt washed over her. It had been as invincible as it could’ve been. Like bulletproof glass, it broke when it was hit repeatedly in the same spot. She pressed her hand on it and it cracked even more, shattering against her suit. 

She watched as Lillian got back up onto her feet. She loudly winced in pain and reached up to take off her helmet. Her messy brown hair was plastered across her forehead and she looked terribly worn out, but she was still smiling. 

Kara looked nervously between her and the robots that were still surrounding Lena. 

Sensing Kara’s concern, Lillian glanced over at her daughter. Lena was slouching from pain but her expression was hard. She stared at her mother so intensely that Lillian could sense it.

“Don’t worry, Kara.” Lillian smiled at her. “What kind of mother would I be if I hurt my own daughter?”

Without warning, Lillian activated the Kryptonite again and Kara flew straight up into the air, trying to get away. Lillian took off after her with no hesitation. Kara realized that was how Lillian wanted to kill her as she dodged behind building after building. It was what Lex had wanted, and now Lillian would fulfill her son’s dreams. 

Lillian somehow sped up and gained on Kara, getting five yards behind her. She aimed the Kryptonite at her again and this time, she didn’t miss. Kara felt the radiation in the air bouncing off her skin and tried not to yell out. She felt her powers weaken and she felt herself slow down, but she kept pushing.

Kara screamed in pain when she felt the Kryptonite hit her again and she tumbled out of the sky. She had been going in a circle around the roof she had been on, trying to keep Lena in her line of sight. When she fell, she felt the air pressure around her and she closed her eyes, waiting to slam into the ground. She missed the roof and hit the pavement so hard that it splintered underneath her. 

Kara slowly blinked open her eyes and nearly blacked out from the pain. Her skin glowed a bright green and her veins popped out creepily. She breathed heavily, feeling the burning of her entire body, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head uncontrollably.

During the fight, Lillian had lost the head piece and the lights on the robots that surrounded Lena had blinked out. Lena slowly got up, flexing her injured leg, and pushed one of them over. She immediately started limping for the exit, desperate to get to the street. She had seen Kara get hit by a huge wave of Kryptonite and every fiber in her was praying to find Kara alive.

She looked around when she got to the ground but it didn’t take long for her to find Kara. She rushed over to the small crater in the pavement and knelt by Kara’s side. Lena leaned in, trying to find a heartbeat and she let out a devastating cry of relief when she heard a faint thump. 

“Kara. Kara, please.” Lena whispered, hot tears running down her cheeks.

She took Kara’s cold hand into her own and she brushed a few loose strands of hair out of Kara’s face with the other. She looked up, sniffling, when she heard the sound of metal against concrete. 

“Lena, there’s no need to cry for her.” Lillian shook her head. “She’s simply not worth it.”

Lena felt a rush of anger and tried to stand up but she felt a small tug. Kara’s eyes had fluttered open and she used all of her strength to pull Lena back.

“Don’t.” Kara warned, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Lena looked at her and a single tear fell down her cheek. She wanted to end it all, right here right now. She was angry at her mother for making her suffer all these years. She was angry at her mother for never actually  _ being _ her mother. She was so angry at her mother for treating her like she wasn’t important. But all of her hate for Lillian disappeared when she looked into Kara’s eyes. 

“So are you going to murder another family member or what?” Lillian asked, smiling sarcastic.

Lena took a deep breath and turned to look at her. “No.”

Lillian arched an eyebrow in surprise, but then she shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her at all. She held up an arm, still in her suit, and aimed it at Kara. The metal made a weird noise and something that looked like the head of a gun popped out. Kara’s eyes were wide with fear but she couldn’t move. The gun glowed a neon green from the inside out.

Lena’s heart started racing and adrenaline pumped through her veins, telling her to move  _ now _ .

“No!” Lena screamed, diving in front of Kara as the gun went off.


	21. Chapter 21

Everything seemed to slow down and the sound of the gun going off rang through the air. Kara screamed and forced herself to get up. Lena fell to her knees from the force of the Kryptonite bullet and her hand flew to the wound on her torso. Kara crawled to her and she could barely see from her tears clouding her vision. 

“Lena!” Kara yelled out, her voice breaking.

Lena’s eyes were wide from shock but she managed to give her a small smile. Kara frantically put her hands onto Lena’s stomach, trying to suppress the blood flow. 

“You idiot!” Lillian clenched her jaw. “Why would you do that?”

Kara didn’t care that Lillian knelt down next to them, too focused on trying to get the bleeding to stop. She x-rayed Lena’s abdomen, praying that the bullet didn’t hit anything.

“You’re going to be fine, Lena.” Kara’s hands shook from relief. “You’re going to be okay.”

The bullet missed Lena’s organs and arteries but blood continued to gush out of her. Kara activated her laser eyes, wanting to cauterize the wound. She heard the wail of the DEO ambulance in the near distance but did it anyway. She wasn’t about to lose her. 

Lena yelled out in pain when she felt the searing hot burn of the lasers, but she felt her heart rate calm down. The bleeding had stopped for the most part but the intensity of the heat vision nearly made her pass out. She started to see black spots and she tried to steady herself. 

“Lena?” Kara asked, her voice full of concern. 

Lillian let out a breath, standing up, as if she did all she could to help save her daughter’s life. Kara’s eyes never left Lena, desperate to hear her say she was okay. 

The sound of the ambulance was a block away and Lillian started to backtrack. Now, Kara glared up at her.

“You’re not going  _ anywhere _ .” Kara threatened, full of anger. “You don’t shoot your daughter and leave.”

Lillian looked down at Lena, watching as her eyelids fluttered, and sighed. “I am truly sorry that it came to that, Kara. But I simply will not stay.”

Kara’s eyes darted to Lena, now unconscious and curled up on the ground, and every cell in her wanted to go back to her side. But she knew that if she let Lillian go free, Lena wouldn’t be so lucky next time. 

“Supergirl!” A DEO agent called out, leading a group of other agents and medical staff towards them.

“Lena needs help! Quick!” Kara yelled back, pointing to her on the pavement.

She glanced at Lena one more time, whispering how sorry she is for leaving her, before turning to Lillian. With a jolt, she realized that Lillian had snuck away, but she easily caught up in the air. It was surprising that Lillian’s suit was still functional. 

They dodged each other’s attacks easily but Kara was barely trying. She wanted to build it up so that when she finally defeats her, it would truly feel like she had won. She would feel like she had finally protected Lena and the world. Her blood felt like it was boiling from how much she hated Lillian. The desperation for revenge rushed through her veins and she wasn’t planning on letting Lillian off easy this time.

With a tearful yell, Kara slammed into Lillian full force. They tumbled through two buildings together, crashing through all of the glass. Kara grabbed her neck and threw Lillian into another building with another yell. Lillian fell through the other side, at least two hundred feet in the air, and was barely conscious. She had on a very damaged metal helmet and it hardly protected her from the impact of crashing through three skyscrapers. 

Kara’s eyes flooded with tears and her fist closed tightly. Her heart clenched when she remembered Lena lying on the pavement, a pool of her own blood surrounding her. She let them fall when she floated in the air, so high up that she could feel the air pressure. 

She watched as Lillian tumbled to the ground, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to let her hit concrete so violently. Kara sped after her and grabbed her just before Lillian smacked into the pavement. She hung on to her loosely, not really caring if Lillian was dragged over the ground. 

She only thought to catch her when she realized Lena would be so heartbroken if her mother had died. She knew no matter what her family did to her, Lena still wanted to have a chance to love them. 

Kara held on to Lillian for a while, just floating there. She slowly took off Lillian’s helmet and she felt a strange emotion when she saw that Lillian’s eyes were swollen shut. Her cheekbones were bruised and cut and her upper lip was bleeding. Her hair was caked with blood and her breathing was shallow.

Kara flew back to where Lena had been but her heart dropped when she wasn’t there. The DEO ambulance was also gone and she realized they had made it safely back to the desert facility. 

Still holding on to Lillian, she flew faster than ever before, heading to the headquarters. All she could think about during those ten seconds was Lena. She felt a tear trickle down the side of her face when she thought back to how she had just left her there, injured and possibly dying. 

She landed in the middle of the DEO so hard, she made a dent in the floor. She dropped Lillian like she was a ragged doll that she was desperate to get rid of. Everyone turned to stare at her with distraught written all over their faces.

“Where is she?” Kara demanded, walking quickly to the medical ward. 

She heard the click of a pair of handcuffs as an agent cuffed Lillian Luthor but she didn’t bother to turn and watch. She followed a doctor into one of the rooms but no one was there.

Before Kara could ask, the doctor nervously spoke up. “Ms. Luthor is in emergency surgery at the moment. Cauterizing the wound was smart and it helped but she crashed in the ambulance.”

Kara choked up in despair. Lena had nearly died on the way here and she hadn’t been there to hold her hand. She stood there, frozen, for about two minutes before the doctor realized she wasn’t going to snap out of it for a while.

“Kara, I’m so sorry.” Alex appeared behind her. “She’s going to be okay.”

Kara felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she leaned in to her sister, letting the tears fall freely down her face. She let it all out, all of the tears and the emotions and the sounds, and Alex held her the entire time. They stood like that for ten minutes, maybe more, before Kara calmed down enough to register that Alex had been speaking to her.

“What?” She sniffled, her chest still heaving against her sister from crying so much.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get there fast enough.” Alex’s voice wavered. “You and Lena could’ve… I’m sorry. We couldn’t trace the signal until…” She shook her head, unsure of how to explain.

Alex had nagged Brainy to check everywhere when she hadn’t been able to reach Lena or Kara. They always picked up even after ten p.m. and Alex knew something wasn’t right when they didn’t call or text back hours later. When they finally found out that Lillian’s signature was right where Kara was, she immediately called a team of agents to the scene. She was about to follow when Brainy pulled her back.

“What are you going to do there, Alex?” He had asked. “We’re the only ones here and we’re at least an hour from the site. You can’t risk facing Lillian Luthor.”

Alex protested, yelling about how Kara was her sister.

“You can’t do anything there. The agents are capable of doing what you can do and you have no idea how Kara and Lena are handling it.” Brainy tried to convince her.

Alex had hated to admit it but Brainy was right. She could only trust that her sister and her top agents would make it out alive. 

Kara’s steady voice snapped Alex out of it. “It’s not your fault, Alex.”

A sound made them both turn to the door. 

Once Alex and Brainy had found out that Kara was facing off with Lillian, they had alerted the rest of the team. The group were all standing outside of the room, groggy from being half-asleep, and waited for Alex’s signal that said it was safe to go in.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Alex realized she hadn’t checked up on her sister and she pulled away, observing every inch of her.

“I’m fine.” Kara stepped back, trying to distance herself.

Alex was almost offended but she knew that her sister must be thinking about Lena. “She’s going to be okay, Kara. She’s tough. She’s survived worse.”

Kara turned to face her sister, tears forming in her eyes again. “You don’t get it, Alex. I left her there! I left Lena there,  _ dying  _ on the ground! I-”

Alex stepped back, stunned. Kara took a shaky breath and her lips quivered. 

Alex tried to think of something to say, something that would help relieve her sister of the pain and guilt, but she couldn’t. All she could do was look at her, her own eyes filling with tears.

“It’s not your fault, Kara.” Was all she could say.

“She took a bullet for me,” Kara whispered, her voice cracking. “She risked her life to save mine and I- I left her.”

Kara’s voice had softened and she shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she had done. Alex peered into the hallway and gave the rest of the team a look, telling them it wasn’t a good time. They exchanged glances and reluctantly walked away. 

“I kee-I keep seeing Lena like that.” Kara squeezed her eyes shut. “I- I keep- I keep coming back to that image of her. The blood drained from her face, th-the pool of blood on the floor. Her smile. Sh-she smiled at me when I went to her, before she passed out. And I- I left her there.”

Alex felt a pang in her chest when she heard those last words. Kara sounded so exhausted and terrified at the same time, something that doesn’t happen ever, and Alex felt completely helpless. She steadily placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“What if she died, Alex?” Kara turned to look at her, her voice so full of hurt and defeat. “What if she died when I left her to take down her own mother? I don’t know what I-”

Kara’s voice broke and she let out loud sobs. Her face was buried in her hands and she started to shake. She couldn’t even bring herself to finish that sentence. 

Kara knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Lena had died. She had made a choice, and it would’ve been the right choice to a hero. But she had always found a way to a hero and be Kara Danvers. But tonight, she made a choice and she hated herself for it. She had wanted to get rid of Lillian for good so that she couldn’t hurt Lena ever again. But she hadn’t thought about the possibility that Lena could’ve died, too. Until now.

The sound of the wheels of a hospital bed woke Kara up and she nearly fell off of her chair. A nurse walked in first, setting up the I.V. stand. Three more people walked into the room and glanced at Kara simultaneously as they rolled Lena’s bed into the right spot.

Lena was still unconscious, an oxygen mask over her face. Her breath was steady, fogging up the plastic, but her bandaged abdomen made her look so fragile. A lump formed in Kara’s throat as she walked over to her. She looked calm and peaceful, unlike before when she was bleeding out on the street.

“The surgery was successful.” A doctor turned towards her and gave her a forced smile. “She was lucky. The bullet lodged into her right beside her intestines so it wasn’t difficult. She did lose a lot of blood on the table once we tried to repair the wound. She crashed again but she is very much stable now.”

Kara tried to thank her but she let out a croaky sound instead. The doctor got the message and nodded towards the others, signaling for them to leave. Kara’s attention had been on Lena the whole time. She’d visited many friends like this before, out of surgery, and she knew the anesthesia would wear off soon. She watched as Lena’s chest rose and fell, telling herself that she would never take it for granted ever again. 

“I’m so sorry, Lena.” Kara bent down and whispered into her ear.

She pulled up a chair and held Lena’s hand. She brushed her thumb over her cool skin and tried to hold back her tears. Kara was successful at first but as she put her face down onto the sky blue sheets, she felt Lena’s arm twitch. She nearly jumped out of her chair, hoping she wasn’t imagining it. 

Lena gripped her hand tighter, blinking her eyes open. The bright light in the room glared back at her and she had to shut her eyes again, feeling her eyes burn. 

“Lena?” Kara said softly, her voice breaking.

In response, Lena murmured something but Kara couldn’t hear with the oxygen mask over her face. She reached over and pulled it away from her face in one swift motion.

“Darling, you look  _ terrible _ .” Lena repeated quietly, her eyes barely open.

Kara laughed out loud for the first time and she covered her face in embarrassment. She brushed her wet cheeks with the backs of her hands.

“I’m so sorry, Lena.” Kara’s smile wavered. “I’m so sorry I left you.”

Lena’s eyes slowly opened, bracing for the bright light, and met Kara’s cloudy blue eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kara.”

Kara frowned in confusion. 

“You’re more than my hero. You’re the city’s hero. You’re the world’s hero.” Lena smiled weakly. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. Plus, I was fine.”

“I was supposed to protect you.” Kara shook her head in protest. “You saved my life and I left your side.”

“Kara, you’ve saved me so many more times than you know.” Lena whispered. “You had to make a decision that no one else could’ve made. Would’ve made. It  _ was  _ the right one. Don’t ever apologize for doing good in the world.”

Kara looked into her eyes and saw more of Lena than she had known before. Lena’s green eyes glowed back at her as if she was stronger than she ever was. Kara searched deeper and saw all of her scars, her history, her defeats. But she also saw the times Lena had gotten back up and showed the world that she was tougher than she looked. She saw the hurt in the same eyes and she knew Lena had gone through hell and back more times than she knows. She saw how many times Lena desperately searched for love and received heartbreak, betrayal, and lies instead. But then she saw how Lena had kept coming back to  _ her _ , over and over again, no matter what. She knew why Lena understood her choice. And she understood why Lena had taken that bullet for her.


	22. Chapter 22

Kara made an excited yelp when she heard a knock on her door and put down a family sized pack of chips, licking her fingers. She nearly bounded towards the door and opened it with a blinding smile.

“Lena!” Kara exclaimed. “Come in!”

Lena gave her a warm smile and her hair brushed Kara’s face when she walked into the apartment. Before she could step fully into the studio, Kara whipped her around and kissed her hard.

“What was that for?” Lena laughed when Kara finally pulled away, her eyebrows raised.

“Um, for the wine?” Kara joked, pointing at the expensive bottle of red Lena was holding.

“Darling, you don’t even get drunk.” Lena gave her a look and set the bottle down on the living room table. 

“You’re early.” Kara noted, glancing at the clock. “Game night isn’t supposed to start for another thirty minutes.”

“Oh I know.” Lena said calmly, plopping down onto the couch.

Kara watched as Lena poured herself a glass of wine. She sat down next to her, shaking her head. It was barely nine o’clock and Lena was already drinking. She slowly slid down until her head was resting on Lena’s lap.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked, amused.

“I missed you,” Kara said quietly, looking up at her with puppy eyes.

They hadn’t seen each other in almost three days, both terribly busy with work. After taking Lillian into custody, Kara had spent two days straight with Lena, making sure her bullet wound was healing correctly. She took care of Lena even though she insisted she was fine, and Kara left everything to the rest of the team. Lena had begged for Kara to let her return to LCorp and she finally agreed on the third day, and they hadn’t seen each other since.

“I missed you, too.” Lena set her glass down onto the table.

Her fingers threaded themselves into Kara’s blond hair and she absentmindedly twirled the curly strands, messing it up. 

Lena had been trying to obsess over her work back at her company so that she wouldn’t have to think about her mother. She knew Lillian deserved everything she got from Kara, maybe more, but she couldn’t stop feeling guilty. 

Kara must’ve noticed Lena biting her lip and she raised her head to kiss her on the cheek. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Lena locked her eyes with Kara’s and her chest burned with a feeling of yearning when she saw how concerned Kara looked. She shook her head, dismissing it, and reached for her wine.

“Lena.” Kara stopped her, her tone more serious.

“Nothing.” Lena’s eyes darted to the ground. “It’s just… I feel bad.”

Kara let out a sigh and wrapped an arm around Lena’s shoulder. “Lillian doesn’t deserve you. You shouldn’t bind yourself to her, Lena. You’re so much more than  _ just  _ a Luthor.”

They both jumped when someone knocked on the door. When Kara opened it, she was tackled by a very enthusiastic Alex. 

“God, we haven’t had a game night in so long.” Alex’s brown eyes widened in excitement. “So I brought tons of food. Maggie will be here soon. She had to take care of a few things at work.”

Kara stood there awkwardly, waiting for Alex to stop her ranting long enough to notice Lena sitting cross-legged on her couch.

“Lena!” Alex turned and finally noticed who was already here. Her expression changed about fifty times in a second, spanning from confusion to relief to see her on her feet.

“Well? Don’t just stand there, Danvers.” Lena waved her hand, motioning her over. “Hand over the food.”

Nia rolled the die and groaned when it landed on a two and a one. She looked around the room dramatically, trying to appear distressed about rolling a total of three. 

Everyone had been chatting decently loud, happy that they were all back together again, but Kara was laughing extra hard tonight. Nia’s gaze landed on Kara and Lena who had only been talking to each other for most of the night.

Alex met her eyes and shook her head in defeat. 

“What is going on?” Nia asked, trying to be as loud as possible, but Lena and Kara still didn’t notice.

Brainy looked confused when the rest of them laughed. “What? Am I missing something? What is everyone laughing at?”

They laughed even harder when he did a 360, trying to look for the “funny”, and Lena finally turned to them.

“What’s going on?” She asked, smiling into her wine glass. 

Kara turned around when she realized Lena wasn’t talking to her anymore and saw everyone staring at them with huge smiles plastered on their faces. She noticed a hint of red on Lena’s cheeks but she was confused.

“What?” She demanded.

“Oh, we were just collecting our bets.” Maggie smiled even wider. “Danvers over here owes me a twenty.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “The night isn’t over yet. I still have a chance.”

Lena ran her fingers through her hair, looking at Kara. Her cheeks burned when she realized Kara still had no clue about what was happening. She stifled a laugh when Kara just shrugged and reached for more popcorn. 

“Well, I win.” Nia finally said, waving her stack of cards in the air. “Choose your partners for the next game.”

J’onn held up another board game and groaned. “Well, of course I’m the score keeper.”

Kara gave him a sympathetic look. J’onn was always keeping score in these games and he always brushed off the comments about how everything would’ve been solved if he found someone to play with him.

“You’re with me, right?” Kara asked, nodding to Lena.

“Always.” She smiled back, straightening up.

Maggie and Alex exchanged a look and both of them rolled their eyes simultaneously.

“Kara literally  _ melted  _ over Lena’s smile. Did you see that?” Maggie whispered to her girlfriend.

“It was more obvious than Brainy’s confusion.” Alex had to stop herself from laughing out loud. “And that says a lot.”

Maggie laughed much louder than she intended when she turned to look at Brainy. His brows nearly met in the middle of his forehead, completely clueless on how the game worked. He kept picking up random pieces and Nia kept slapping his hands away.

“I’m winning this bet.” Alex said confidently. 

The day Maggie met Lena, Kara had been in the same room as them. Since then, she and Alex had an ongoing bet that they had a crush on each other. At first, Alex betted against it, oblivious to the fact that her baby sister was in love with their friend. Maggie spent countless hours pointing out every little detail until she won Alex over..

“She bought an entire building for her! It was 750  _ million  _ dollars!” Maggie had exclaimed. “She filled Kara’s entire office with flowers! How do you not see it?”

It was as if that finally clicked for Alex. She even began listing out the things Maggie had forgotten about. She had handed her girlfriend a new twenty dollar bill but she wasn’t satisfied. Right after Lena had begun to recover from her surgery, Alex made a new bet with Maggie.

“Five days,” Alex had said. “They’ll announce it on game night.”

Midnight on game night was the deadline. Kara and Lena had barely talked to anyone else the past couple of hours but Alex was positive it would happen.

“I’m winning. A hundred percent.” Maggie now replied, grabbed a throw pillow and hit her girlfriend with it. 

“It’s your turn to roll, idiot.” Alex grabbed the same pillow and smacked Maggie in the face.

Lena tapped Kara on the shoulder lightly as she walked past her in the kitchen. Kara blushed when she realized Lena was on the other side of her.

“Let me.” Lena held out her hand for the dishes. 

Kara shook her head sharply. “No way! Enjoy your night off.”

They were standing so close that their sleeves brushed against each other. Lena could feel the static between them and she momentarily forgot why she was even in the kitchen in the first place. 

Kara wiped her right hand and sneakily wrapped it around Lena’s waist. She looked around, trying to act subtle, and her fingers tapped against Lena teasingly.

Lena tried to act like nothing was happening and reached into a cupboard for a mug. She held it in her hands awkwardly, unsure of what to do. They tried to not look suspicious but it didn’t help that they were both standing unusually still.

Kara had somehow pulled them so close that they were pressed against each other. Her fingers lifted up Lena’s shirt slowly and she placed them on her warm skin. She traced circles on Lena’s stomach gently and felt consumed by her body heat. She felt Lena take in a sharp breath when Kara tugged at the waistband of her jeans, but she didn’t move further than that. She stayed like that for a minute, both unmoving.

“Hey, we’re heading out.” Nia suddenly called out, pointing to Brainy and J’onn.

Kara immediately dropped her hand and Lena distanced them, both of their faces flushed. Kara glanced at the clock and was shocked that it was just past midnight. 

“Oh, I’m going, too.” Maggie spoke up, grabbing her coat.

Kara glanced at her sister questioningly but Alex shook her head. “I need to talk to you first.”

Maggie and Alex exchanged a look, both of them trying to contain a smile. 

“Um, I should get going, too.” Lena said, finally putting down the oversized mug.

She winked at Kara when she saw the disappointment across her face. She followed the rest of the group out of the apartment after grabbing her own coat. Kara seemed to be in a trance as she watched Lena walk out but she snapped out of it when she heard her sister clear her throat dramatically.

“Oh,” Kara said. “What was it that you wanted to tell me?”

Alex’s face scrunched up, thinking of what she wanted to say first. “Actually, I have more than one thing to talk to you about.”

Kara pouted at the sisterly tone. “What was that look between Maggie and you?”

Alex dropped onto the couch, grabbing a half-empty bag of chips. “Nevermind that. I’ll get to it later.”

Kara waited for her to continue, growing impatient when Alex stuffed a mouthful of barbecue chips into her mouth.

“Okay, so.” Alex finally swallowed. “You lost me twenty bucks.”

Kara laughed, still not quite understanding what she meant. “What was the bet?”

Alex almost smacked herself in the face. “God, Kara. How- you know what? Never mind. I bet Maggie that you and Lena would announce you finally got together by midnight tonight.”

Kara felt her cheeks heat up. She thought she was being subtle with Lena. Kara was going to tell Alex, but only after talking to Lena about it first.

“I mean,” Kara started talking faster. “We went on one date. Well, one  _ official  _ date. So I guess we are  _ together _ together, but I just… I wanted to talk to her before I told you, I swear! I guess I’m just kind of clueless.”

Alex understood what she meant but she snorted at the last part. “ _ Kind _ of? Kara, honey, you’re more oblivious than a certain Sherlock Holmes impersonator.”

Kara couldn’t help but laugh.

Maggie, being a detective, had a Sherlock Holmes phase. When she was around the age of eight, she would dress up as him whenever she could and pretend she was a famous crime solver. 

“For some reason, I went up to a boy in the playground and knighted him with a branch. I wanted him to be the Watson to my Sherlock.” Maggie had laughed, recalling the story. “The boy must’ve been at least fourteen and he looked at me like I was crazy. He even called me some names but I still followed him for the entire day.”

“Okay, fine.” Kara admitted now. “Maybe I’m very clueless about stuff like this. To be fair, I never knew what sexualities were until I came to Earth. Kryptonians just loved whoever they wanted, no matter who it was. It confused me when I first got here. All of the girls at school always went out with boys so I followed what they did to fit in.”

Alex nodded. She had done the same when she was younger, only finally understanding her own feelings a few years ago.

“But after you told me you realized you loved girls the way you’re supposed to feel about boys, I realized I had feelings for Lena.” Kara smiled weakly at her sister. “You helped me realize it was okay to fall in love with whoever I wanted.”

Alex rubbed at her eyes, trying not to cry. She leaned into her sister, wrapping her arm around her. 

“I love you.” Kara said firmly, her voice full of emotion.

“Stop trying to make me cry.” Alex groaned, furiously wiping away her tears.

They sat like that for a while, just holding each other and being there for each other like they always had. Kara thought Alex must’ve fallen asleep but she suddenly sat up and looked at her.

“I need to go soon or Maggie will make me sleep on the couch,” Alex joked. “But I do need to tell you something.”

Her eyes glimmered in the dim lights and Kara’s heart rate picked up from excitement. 

“I… proposed.” Alex said, her mouth curving up into a smile.

“Oh my god!” Kara jumped up, her mouth hanging open. 

“And…” Alex slowly continued. “She said yes!”

“Oh my god!” Kara screamed and grabbed Alex to hug her. 

Alex let her calm down a bit before telling her it wasn’t planned, which was why Maggie didn’t have a ring. They had been laying in bed, ready to go to sleep, when Maggie started talking about how terrible the guy she had to fight to keep in cuffs was.

“Can you believe the guy didn’t even know how to properly hold a gun?” Maggie had said. “Who doesn’t know how to hold a gun?”

Alex slowly turned to look at her and something clicked. She proposed right then and there, knowing it was probably the only thing that she would never regret in her life.

“You make me love love.” Maggie had told her after she accepted the proposal, wiping away her tears. “You make me want to stay for all of the cheesy stuff. And I know I will never regret any of it.”

  
  



	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last one :)

Lena heard a soft knock on the window and swiveled on her office chair. Her face lit up when she saw Kara standing on her balcony. She hadn’t seen Kara since game night and even though it hadn’t been a full twenty four hours yet, she missed being with her terribly.

Kara beamed back at her and held out a bouquet of plumerias to her shyly. “I, um, stopped by the flower shop on the corner of my block earlier. I thought you might like these.”

Lena’s eyes widened for a second, flattered but surprised at the gesture. “Plumerias. Strength and love.”

Kara blushed. She had never gotten flowers for anyone before and it made her nervous. She couldn’t tell how Lena felt about the gift and she picked at her fingers absentmindedly.

“I love it. Thank you, Kara.” Lena gave her a reassuring smile, taking the flowers from her. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m really glad you liked it.” Kara said admittedly. “I, uh, wanted to ask you out. Again.”

Lena had walked to her office desk to drop off the flowers but now she stopped. “A second date?”

Kara nodded her head nervously. “A second date.”

After an unsteady pause, Kara nervously added, “I mean, we’re official, right? We’re dating?”

Lena walked up to her again, locking her eyes on Kara’s. Kara almost looked away from how shy she felt but she did her best to keep calm. Smiling, Lena reached out her hand and her pinkies wrapped around Kara’s. She leaned in for a quick kiss but it ended up being much longer. Kara pulled Lena closer to her, pressing against her body. Their hands were still intertwined between them but it was getting in the way, so Kara put her hands behind Lena’s head instead. Lena’s hands tried to reach into Kara’s shirt, but she was in her Supergirl suit. Kara murmured a curse into the kiss, wishing she had just entered Lena’s office like a normal person so she would’ve had on a regular shirt. Lena reflexively pulled away when she heard footsteps nearing her office doors. They both glanced at the door nervously but Lena let out a breath when she realized they weren’t going to be walked in on.

“At work, Ms. Luthor?” Kara teased. “Again, not very professional.”

“Says the person who flew in your Supergirl suit just to bring me flowers.” Lena smirked, teasing back.

“Second date, then? Tonight at eight?” Kara asked.

“Eight’s perfect.” Lena confirmed. “But no flying. I’m planning it this time.”

At exactly eight p.m., Kara knocked on Lena’s office door. She could feel Jess staring at her but she was too nervous about how she looked to acknowledge it.

She heard a shuffle of papers and the jingle of keys before the door opened. Lena froze and nearly dropped the stack of papers she was holding when she saw Kara. 

Kara was wearing a nicely fitted blue dress that reminded Lena of her eyes. Lena glanced up at them just to make sure. The dress had a turtle neckline, which makes her sharp jawline stand out, and the slit on the side of it showed off a generous amount of skin. Lena moved her gaze downwards and saw that the dress barely touched Kara’s knees. The three inch heels she was wearing made her even taller than she was. Lena looked up at Kara’s face again, noticing the small see-through earrings she had on. Her hair was half-up and half-down, loose strands falling to the sides of her face. 

Kara tensed up, hoping the silence was a good thing. She bit her lip when Lena held up a finger, motioning for her to wait. Lena prayed that her flushed cheeks were faded when she placed the stack of papers on Jess’ desk, mumbling that she wanted her to file them. Jess’ amused expression told her that she _was_ blushing ridiculously hard. 

Lena turned and grabbed Kara’s hand, pulling her out of the building. 

“Kara,” Lena breathed. “You look… incredibly beautiful.”

Kara blushed at the compliment and she let out an embarrassed giggle. “You look very pretty.”

Lena bit her lip, refraining herself from smiling. She was definitely not as dressed up as Kara. The red dress she was wearing screamed businesswoman. The back cut showed off her smooth skin but that was about it. It wasn’t anything special. But when she looked at Kara, she sure felt special.

She let her flirtatious side take over, looking Kara up and down before looking her in the eyes. “That outfit really does something to me.”

Surprisingly, Kara understood what she meant. She reached up, playing with her made-up hair nervously, and let out a shocked giggle.

“Good thing we’re going to my place.” Lena announced, taking Kara’s hand.

“Wait, do you mean that’s where our second date is or are we going to…” Kara asked shyly.

“If you want, both.” Lena smirked.

Kara’s jaw dropped. Lena’s apartment smelled fresh, the same way it was fresh after a snowstorm or a cool summer night. The sofa was pulled out into a bed and there was a stack of snacks next to it. The lights were dimmer than usual, setting a more romantic tone. The small dining table was moved to the middle of the room, a vase of plumerias placed in the middle. All of the shades were up, the entire skyline of National City visible.

“Wow.” Was all Kara could say.

Lena blushed, not used to setting up date night. “I know it isn’t much but I had no idea what I was doing.”

Kara stared at her, stunned. “Are you kidding? This is amazing! I love it.”

Lena looked a little doubtful at first, but Kara’s scream when she realized there was a bag of potstickers next to a tub of ice cream in the kitchen pushed the feeling away.

“Sit back, relax. Watch a movie.” Lena suggested. “I’m cooking.”

Kara obediently plopped down onto the sofabed and let out a sigh of satisfaction. “This should not be as comfortable as it is. Seriously, I could sleep here forever.”

Lena looked up from the kitchen and smiled. “I know you see the snacks, Kara. I got it all for you so you don’t have to hold back.”

Kara’s mouth dropped open. “All of it?”

“All of it.” Lena responded, going back to preparing dinner.

“You are the absolute best.” Kara ran over quickly and planted a kiss on Lena’s forehead before sprinting back to continue watching _The Lion King_.

Kara pried her eyes off of the seventy-five inch television when she caught a whiff of their dinner. When she looked over, she nearly drooled from hunger. She had finished nearly half of the snacks Lena had bought, but she gained all of her appetite back when she saw the food. There was a combination of everything she loved, starting with the famous potstickers. 

“It smells amazing!” Kara nearly skipped to the table.

Lena’s eyes shone. She’d never cooked for anyone else before.

“A salad?” Kara tilted her head at her. “You made all this food and you’re eating a salad?”

Lena pecked her on the lips. “Salads had never done anything to you, Kara. Don’t discriminate against food.”

Kara nudged Lena playfully and threw a piece of popcorn into the air. Lena watched as Kara caught it in her mouth perfectly and she snorted in amusement. She pelted Kara with two handfuls of the popcorn, gesturing to the television.

“Come on,” Lena said. “It’s the best part of _The Empire Strikes Back_.”

Kara crawled across the couch and snuggled into Lena. Her head was resting against her shoulder and they intertwined their legs. She wrapped her arms around Lena’s bicep, her heart racing as she watched Darth Vader exclaim he was Luke’s father.

“ _What?_ ” Kara cried. 

“You’re surprised?” Lena asked. “This movie came out forty years ago.”

“Well, I watched like one Star Wars movie growing up. I was more of a Marvel maniac, to be honest.” Kara admitted.

“Okay, I’ll give you a point for liking Marvel.” Lena scrunched up her face. “Cap and Bucky?”

“Oh, my OTP!” Kara laughed. “But Peggy Carter does have my heart.”

“Agreed.” Lena smiled.

They stayed next to each other like that through the entire movie and through the next one. Lena warned Kara that there was a heartwarming scene towards the end and that she should brace herself. She did not brace herself enough.

“ _What?!_ ” Kara yelled. 

“I told you,” Lena said, pulling her closer.

“He can’t just die like that!” Kara continued to yell. “He deserved a bigger redemption arc!”

Kara paused when she noticed Lena staring at her. 

“Come on.” Lena suddenly grabbed Kara’s hand and led her to the balcony.

It had started to rain but it was light enough for them to not get soaked. Kara hugged Lena from the back, rubbing her shoulders to warm her up.

“Why are we out here?” Kara asked.

“Balconies remind me of you,” Lena said honestly. “Everytime I’m standing on one, I think of you and how you’re saving the world. Sometimes I’d stay out there for hours, waiting for you to fly by my office or my apartment. When you did, it’d make my entire day. It didn’t matter how crappy it was, I’d feel better just by seeing you.”

Kara buried her face into Lena’s neck, memorizing her scent.

“When you don’t show up, I’d stare out into the sky. The horizon, the skyline. It makes me think of how many possibilities there are in the world. And it made me think of how we found each other in such a large world full of so many of those possibilities. A Super and a Luthor, against all odds. Who would’ve thought?”

The rain was beginning to fall harder but neither of them seemed to care. Lena turned around, moving so close that Kara could feel her breath on her. 

Kara thought time had slowed down in that moment. They had moved away so that they weren’t touching, but they were so close to each other that they were itching to. She leaned in first and Lena willingly parted her mouth. The raindrops ran down their faces but they barely noticed. Kara pulled away for a second to pick Lena up and Lena wrapped her legs around Kara’s waist, bending down to continue the kiss. It felt passionate, like they were pouring all of their feelings out without saying a word. 

Lena stopped the kiss, placing her forehead on Kara’s. She blinked, trying to open her eyes against the pouring rain. Kara’s eyes were still closed, her breath uneven and hitched. They stayed plastered against each other for minutes, both refusing to let go.

“You need a shower.” Lena finally said.

“So do you.” Kara laughed into the rain.

Lena woke up calmly, lifting her head, and she used her hands to cover her eyes from the blaring morning sun. She stretched, looking down, and she blinked in confusion. Her mind was too groggy to process what she was seeing at first. Then, she remembered she had been on the balcony last night. 

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense,” She muttered to herself. 

She tried to stretch again but nearly fell five feet to the ground. She was too tired to feel terrified. Lena suddenly felt a steady breath come out of her pillow. She looked up, squinting, and realized her breathing pillow was her girlfriend. Now, it made sense to her why the sofabed seemed so far away.

Last night, they had gone back to the sofa to finish up the movie and they had fallen asleep in no time. Lena had been sleeping on Kara’s chest the entire night but hadn’t realized that they had started to float in the air a few hours in.

“Baby, this is the third time.” Lena whispered.

Then it hit her. She’s seen Kara fall asleep in other places before, sometimes even laying on top of her other friends, but she had never unconsciously floated like that. It definitely doesn’t happen three times. Kara had always been so bubbly and warmhearted, but even a hero needs a break sometimes. And Lena just realized that Kara had only felt safe enough with her to be so vulnerable. Kara had completely let herself be who she was with Lena.

Lena smiled and placed her head back onto Kara’s chest. “I am so completely in love with you, Kara Danvers. You don’t even know.”

She closed her eyes, listening to the steady beat of Kara’s heart, and quickly drifted off.

Kara’s eyes fluttered open carefully, a wide smile playing on her lips. She looked down at her sleeping girlfriend and her heart skipped a beat.

“I know. And I am so completely in love with you, Lena Luthor.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking with me :)
> 
> check out my other fics!


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